There are great, deep cut, crate digging breaks here, rare vocal snippets from some hidden cache of ancient vinyl, and crunchy, hard analog bass. Somewhere between techno, funk and industrial, it is yet another DHS album that is absolutely as good and memorable as anything he’s ever done.
Firmly rooted in the past, and undeniably aware of the present
I was a latecomer to Dimensional Holofonic Sound (aka Ben Stokes), or so I thought. I stumbled upon “House of God” in a chatroom one night and was immediately compelled to seek out more tracks by its author. Little did I know I had already grown up with the work of Ben Stokes, formative member of H-Gun Media who just so happened to have created the (best) videos for some of my favorite artists growing up—Ministry, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails and many others.
Not only that, but since hearing an early Wax Trax! sampler and becoming addicted to Meat Beat Manifesto (also the compilation that introduced me to Autechre, incidentally), I had been listening to him for years as well.
The impact that Meat Beat Manifesto (Jack Dangers), Ben Stokes, Mark Pritchard—have had on music is one you may not have directly felt, but has almost certainly touched you. In many ways ‘the artists artists’, people from this group and its orbits have influenced or in some way reached nearly all the early techno musicians from entire generations, myself included.
I am excited to hear an album from DHS that manages to be firmly rooted in the past, and undeniably aware of the present. The foundation of most of these tracks is hip-hop, break beats and vocal sample gems. But the way any given track unfolds is apparently purely at the whim of Mr. Stokes, as there is everything from house, techno, electro, dubstep and plain brutal bass present through the vast array of tracks.
These influences are deconstructed and filtered through the mind of DHS in an unmistakable, signature sound. If you’ve heard earlier work from DHS then the most surprising thing to you will be how easily he incorporates newer, modern methods into his work without ever seeming to leave the 1990s sonically—at no point does it sound like a feeble attempt to imitate modern genres, something which is all too familiar to me.
There are great, deep cut, crate digging breaks here, rare vocal snippets from some hidden cache of ancient vinyl, and crunchy, hard analog bass. Somewhere between techno, funk and industrial, it is yet another DHS album that is absolutely as good and memorable as anything he’s ever done.
Even if you’re not familiar, if you’re a fan of Coldcut, Double Dee & Steinski, Beat Junkies, or DJ Shadow, this is right up your alley and a must-listen.
Seeing Is Believing is available on Bandcamp.
Watch out for forthcoming videos at seeingisbelieving.tv.
Hopefully a vinyl reissue will be coming soon as the limited 100 gram, black vinyl (a redux version of the full digital album) is already sold-out containing a selection of 16 tracks including a unique, alternate mix of “Visual Audio” and comes with 3D Glasses.
