Test Department - Totality

Released
1996

Label
Invisible Records

Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund

Contact
Invisible
P.O. Box 16008
Chicago, IL 60616
USA

Visit

Last Edit/Update
01 February, 1998

Test Department

TOTALITY

Track Listing

1. Once the Red Dust Passes...(Pt.1)
2. Chillo (Sunrise)
3. Hole
4. Gripper (A Lifetime of Knowledge)
5. Genius
6. Timebomb
7. Woza Moya Woza (Come Spirit Come)
8. The Point
9. Gamma Ray
10. Rolihlahla (Stirring Up Trouble)
11. Chillo (Sunset)
12. Al 'Rabih (The Spring)
13. Zazen
14. Once the Red Dust Passes...(Pt.2)

          The title and cover graphics of Test Department's Totality (released on the Invisible label) contain a number of clues as to the band's concerns and intentions on this CD. The cover shows an image of an old-fashioned globe depicting a map of 'the heavens;' an image of the universe superimposed on the earth. The title Totality likewise hints at this relationship between the terrestrial and the universal; at the same time it seems likely that Test Department also refers to the quality of their music with this title. Totality is at once a CD that incorporates the sounds of many cultures, and it is a CD that spans the history of Test Department's own musical evolution -- from the metallic, 'industrial' sound of their earliest releases, over the classical grandeur of Pax Brittanica, to the organic, techno-dance oriented sound of their most recent music.
          The fourteen tracks that constitute Totality are characterized by an extremely rich and textured sound, dominated by many layers of different types of percussion. The CD is bookended by parts one and two of "Once the Red Dust Passes...," which features metallic percussion against a backdrop of classical orchestration with beautiful ethereal vocals sung by Katie Jane Garside, who guests on the CD.
          The tracks "Chillo (sunrise)" and "Chillo (sunset)" likewise feature the vocals of Garside, here underscored by strong tribal percussion with synth effects thrown in, and a faint melancholy them as of an electrically treated xylophone. The latter part opens with the sample of a heavily accented voice proclaiming that: "The development of technology means the ruin of Western culture." The theme of the apocalyptic nature of modern Western culture reverberates in a number of the song titles -- "Timebomb," "Gamma Ray," "Rolihlahla (Stirring Up Trouble)" and "Chillo (sunset)." Test Department's antidote to this crumbling of Western values is reflected in their many musical references to indiginous cultures, and aspirations toward spirituality and universal harmony -- "Woza Moya Woza (Come Spirit Come)," "Al 'Rabih (The Spring)," "Gripper (A Lifetime of Knowledge)" and "Chillo (Sunrise)."
          The thematic strength of Totality is an added attraction to an album that is extremely energetic, and displays a very high level of production and rhythmic musicianship. Juggling a cascade of percussional styles and cultural influences, Test Department delivers a series of highly danceable tracks that are peppered with meaningful vocals and voice samples.

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