Released
on September 16th, 1991, the debut album from Nightmares on Wax, A Word
Of Science (The 1st & Final Chapter), is celebrating 30 years on
the shelves today.
NoW began to germinate their debut as far back
as 1984 when then 14 year old George Evelyn began to experiment with
mix tapes using bits of film dialogue that caused one friend to comment
that it all “sounded like a nightmare”. This was the inspiration for
the group’s name. In 1987 Evelyn began working with a Leeds crew
recording demo tapes using a 4-track system and a sampler. Elements
from these recording sessions would eventually find their way into A
Word of Science. At this point, they were working predominantly within
the techno style of 4x4 dance electronica, which would lead to the
group’s first two singles on Warp, Aftermath (1989) and Dextrous (1990).
In the early days, the group was a trio consisting of Evelyn, Kevin
"Boywonder" Harper and Jon Halnon. Though their debut album is credited
to the group, Harper and Halnon don’t actually appear on the record and
didn’t tour to support it.
The album itself is one of those
releases that contains the DNA for at least a half dozen different
stylistic offshoots. It drifts from its founding techno grooves to
venture into more funk & hip-hop oriented vibes with psychedelic
overtones offering a strong signpost for the evolution of trip-hop and
downtempo music throughout the coming decades. It’s also a conscious
move away from strictly dance-floor oriented music and is one of the
first “techno” albums to fully embrace the idea of “home listening”
electronic music along with the likes of LFO’s Frequencies album from
the same era. Its divergence of styles was something of a frustration
for those looking for the basic beats characterized by their debut
singles as the album ventured down avenues that other producers were
barely starting to consider options for exploration. As a result it has
gained a legacy as a ground-breaker for innovation in electronic music.
This one went under my radar when it first came out and
Nightmares on Wax went into a bit of a hiatus for a few years before
their sophomore LP, Smoker’s Delight (1995) would cement them in place
as leaders in the downtempo scene. Their reworking of the debut album’s
Nights Interlude would appear on the 1996 Future Sound of Jazz Vol. 2
compilation and serve as my gateway into the world of NoW. I wouldn’t
discover their debut until nearly 10 years after its release, but it has
continually surprised me with how well it has held up. At the very
least, it’s a signpost album that points the way to the future of
electronic music for the next two decades.
