BlackPlastic never really got around to properly listening to the debut album, Madness & Me, from Phil Hartnoll (of Orbital) and Nick Smith's Long Range, but from what we hear it is one of the best ambient albums in years. If this track is anything to go by then that sounds believable.
BlackPlastic struggles with ambient. It seems to be a genre of choice for many a bedroom producer but it is incredibly difficult to make it work and to produce something with any real emotional gravitas. Much like Global Communication, whose 76:14 is probably the best ambient album ever produced, what makes 'Lie Down' work is that it doesn't let the genre get in the way - there is still considerable variety, ebb and flow over the track's eight-minutes, and it is unsurprisingly reminiscent of Orbital's better work.
Download 'Lie Down (Live At The Green Room)' by Long Range [right click, save as].
Long Range release a new EP, Control Me, on Pure Mint Recordings on 1 December 2009. Visit the Long Range website for more info.
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