The Borderland was a large music review website administered by British music journalist John M Peters and featuring music that was generally produced by underground artists and small independent labels. The site closed in 2018, and I guess that all of the reviews were then lost as I can't find any on the ephemeral internet. The Borderland reviewed many of my early albums in the 2000-2010 decade, and when I asked about these in 2018, John sent me copies of his reviews, so for reasons of information preservation I've decided reproduce them here verbatim for posterity, one post at a time.
Mark Sheeky - The Incredible Journey
Unlike Arcangel, The Incredible Journey is a full length album of poppy electronica that is pretty much guaranteed to raise the spirits of the listener. And that starts with the very first track, Challenger, a smooth, pumping track that evolves into a piano-led grower - think of Robert Miles and you're halfway there, but Challenger is much better... Please Wait follows, a short nimble piece that demands to be extended and given a dance mix. Next is Superhighway, an explosive riff-laden track that won't fail to get those legs pumping. Downloading slows the pace a little [but not a lot!] with some slippery percussion backing and not a little funkiness - at over six minutes in length it's the albums' longest track and one of the most atmospheric. Silver Glance follows, this is a heavier piece, with pounding drum pads and a cyclical melody line that burrows insidiously into the skull. Kopakaramba opens with some restrained funky percussion and oozes a carnival/party atmosphere with its steel drums, bubbly synth lines and free form whistling. Loneliness Pt 2 drops the party feel for quite an austere pulsing drum loop and a simple melody line over the top.
Half way through the album and next up is Catacombs, this opens with a cavernous slow beat, and some drifting ambient synth lines over the top that morph into one of those tunes that hammer around the inside of your skull for a while. Circle pretty much describes the music, a cyclical sequencer riff fades in and out as various percussive stabs and synth lines set up more background. Loneliness Pt 1 is very sparse, a single marimba-like melody line that is over far too quickly. Autumn and we are firmly back in Robert Miles territory: restrained dance beats and orchestral lines topped by a flighty piano lead. Great stuff and once again far too short. Penultimate track is Gaea, a mid-tempo atmospheric tune which sounds a little like early Depeche Mode [sans vocals]. Finally there is Termination, another classic.
The most amazing thing about most of Mark Sheeky's albums is that the music is actually created using his own music generation/recording studio software called Noise Station, a software program that he has written himself. The end results are, if you get hold of his albums, extremely spectacular and offers the musician a very different method of creating music to the conventional midi-based system. Anyone requiring more information on Noise Station or the above CDs should check out Mark's website.
Of the four CDs I now have by Mark Sheeky The Incredible Journey certainly ranks as one of the best, but as the others are equally good it makes it difficult if not impossible to make comparisons. One thing is for sure and that is that Mark is producing music that should be heard much more widely, it equals if not surpasses that released on the commercial labels.
- John M Peters/The Borderland
