Dark Matter eLiquid

Enjoy the wonderful flavor of our latest VapeSafe eLiquid - Dark Matter.

Dark Matter tastes like German chocolate cake. For those of you who have not had the fortunate to try a piece German chocolate cake recently, this is a great way to experience the flavor without getting any of the calories. German chocolate cake is a layered cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Traditionally sweet baking chocolate is used for the chocolate flavor in the actual cake. The robust filling and topping is a caramel made with egg yolks and evaporated milk. Once the caramel is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred into the mixture. Finally, rich chocolate frosting is spread around the sides of the cake to hold in the filling.

Dark Matter eLiquid by VapeSafe captures the essence of German chocolate cake. Dark Matter eLiquid delivers plumes of vapor and rich chocolatey flavor that you'll want to enjoy again and again. Try Dark Matter today!

Technology Information:

Exile on Coldharbour Lane

Description

This London exponent of "sweet, pretty country-acid house music"--formerly Alabama 3, until someone remembered the similarly named country-pop group--makes its hybrid work on this debut album. In fact, Exile on Coldharbour Lane sounds like the record U2 wanted Pop to be. Fronted by one Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love, A3 prove their seriousness about roots music with a mournful version of John Prine's "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" while sprinkling the rest of the disc with blues harp and acoustic guitars. Dr. Love's schtick is a bit silly, but his commitment to saying something about the utopian rave culture's potential for waste is obvious in songs like "You Don't Dance to Techno Anymore"--in which a DJ watches a girl overdose in front of his booth. --Rickey Wright

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-24
Summary: "Sweet surprise!"

As huge Sopranos fan, I fell in love with the show's intro music and tracked these guys down. On a chance, I thought I'd try the whole album. When the CD arrived and I saw the weird & freaky photos used throughout, I though "Whoa--this looks like some REALLY freaky stuff..." and I worried that I'd tapped into something nasty and/or stupid. But I didn't let that stop me. I've listened to the CD 7 times or so and like it more every time I play it. This music is unique and I mean unique. I cannot even classify it--by type or style or genre or anything. What I do know and can tell you is that if you've come this far, just get this and you will be introduced to a rich sound that is full of soul and love and layers and layers of music that just makes you want to cut loose and sway and move your body. I will admit that upon my first taste, I couldn't 'take it all in.' Listen to this CD a few times and let it SINK in. There is so much going on rythmically, layered, that it takes a few good listens to properly "get it" and truly absorb what it is these dudes are trying to communicate & share. I took a chance on this one and I'm glad I did!

---

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-30
Summary: "An impulse buy!"

Sopranoes? -I'd never heard of the Sopranoes! I bought this for about £1 "promo copy" on Camberwell Market early in 1998. I've loved it ever since. Unfortunately for me, other listeners get driven to theft - a copy of this and your very own Bible and you are SAVED brother! - so I've just had my 4th copy delivered. It is still a landmark in tongue-in-cheek Englishness on CD. If only they'd heard Richard Thompson's "God Loves A Drunk". An A3 version of that would be very special!

---

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-01-30
Summary: "A3 Rocks Gospel Country Acid House Music!"

Although the artists themselves identify their music genre as "country acid house" and iTunes categorizes the genre as Alternative/Punk, their is a touch of Gospel, though not for the puritanical. A3 (Alabama 3) is Gospel for the prostitutes, junkies, etc. I accidentally came across this album several years ago, and was delighted by it. Almost every track has a real energy, a country-ish rock, complete with the "preachings" of Rev. D. Wayne Love. It's entertaining, pure and simple (or maybe not so pure...).

---

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-07-06
Summary: "The last step in a long journey? Perhaps."

This cd was first encountered on the jukebox of my favourite watering hole in Edinburgh,thanks to the then manager "Barnacle Bill" who was an early convert, sometime in '97 and the funky,swampy,dancy groove has been with me ever since.We played it to death and back again spending a fortune in the process and then i got round to buying my own copy and proceeded to do the same at home!Such genuine originality is indeed very rare these days and i must agree with other reviewers who comment on the paucity of real talent in popular music these days and the formulaic persuit of a tawdry buck.

That the A3 have achieved some measure of recognition through association with The Sopranos is a good thing but it is by no means everything they should be due.It is the sheer eclecticism of their sound on this cd that is simply staggering. At times you have that almost swampy feel that you got from such 60's artist as Tony Joe White and his excellant Polk Salad Annie,with the tightness of such legendary performers
as Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper.The backgound to the spoken intro of the very first song "Converted" illustrates this perfectly. This cd feels to me like the logical end point in the progression that began with that whole white soul sound that came out of Memphis and Muscle Shoals and featured the likes of such underrated and undersung artists as Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and the already mentioned Tony Joe White. The accessability of the obviously techno (not a genre thats ever moved me by the way)influenced dance elements of this disc just embellish an already great sound to the point that without it it wouldnt be A3,and the acclaim they've justly garnered would be undeserving without it. As many have said before me here there are no weak tracks and i will only repeat whats already been said by higlighting the likes of "You Don't Dance To Techno" and "The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness" which is an excellent cover of the John Prine original.

I'll just end by adding that again in agreement with some other reviewers La Peste whilst a good record in its own right had maybe too much to live up to after this masterpiece.Also i have not to my discredit yet seen them live so if they ever read this,more gigs in Edinburgh please!!

---

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2008-04-23
Summary: "Vibrant, fun, and occasionally gripping techno-country fusion."

Exile On Coldharbour Lane is one of the more interesting electronic albums of the nineties. It builds on a simple idea, that of combining acid-house electronica with American-style country music. The idea itself was not entirely original -- Underworld, Primal Scream and the KLF already used some elements of blues, folk and gospel. But those were mostly disparate elements, pasted into a very modern style. A3 did the opposite, using 808 drum machines and acid-style synthesizers, but attempting to evoke (and parody) the spirit of country music.

As part of the act, the band portrayed itself as an exaggerated fundamentalist sect. The album has two vocalists, the megalomaniacal, nasal sect leader "Reverend D. Wayne Love," and his warmer, more soulful husky-voiced parishioner "Larry Love," both with overblown Southern accents. They contrast with each other very well. Larry Love has the lead most of the time, and sings with a restrained conviction that really breathes life into the ridiculous premise. But D. Wayne's arrogant drawl is always entertaining, and charismatic in its own way. And they interact with each other in little skits at the beginning of many tracks.

Of course, the act is an obvious parody. The fundamentalist personas come in for mockery in "Hypo Full Of Love," in which D. Wayne demands that his listeners give him all their money, and more. But at the same time, this image is often used by the album to criticize the techno scene and the club lifestyle. "You Don't Dance To Techno Anymore" tells a sad, sad story about raver girls who overdose on drugs, or sit "in your broken basement room, staring at the wall, sharing your score with no one." The rhythm is provided by a pulsing 808 beat, but the lead instruments are acoustic guitar and harmonica. And then, in "Ain't Going To Goa," Larry Love swears off clubs forever, while D. Wayne preaches, "There ain't nothing worse than some fool lying on some Third World beach wearing spandex psychedelic trousers, smoking damn dope, and pretending he gettin' consciousness expansion. I want consciousness expansion, I go to my local tabernacle and I sing with the brothers and sisters!" Compared to the bleary-eyed ravers and sleazy businessmen ("Bourgeoisie Blues") portrayed throughout the album, A3's depiction of religion looks pretty good -- opening track "Converted" explodes with a jubilant gospel chorus singing, "Let's go back to church."

The band shows considerable dramatic skill. The album version of "Woke Up This Morning," the band's biggest hit (later used as the theme song to The Sopranos), starts with an extended intro in which D. Wayne muses about his "feeling of brief mortality" and reflects on the greatness of jazz music. The dull thump of the beat comes in halfway through his monologue, building up anticipation for the song before it starts. When it does start, it builds up very gradually -- Larry Love's quiet voice is tinged with both menace and something like sympathy for the song's protagonist, and later D. Wayne comes on again with an angry, blustering verse.

The fundamentalist get-up also allows for some terrific apocalyptic metaphors and imagery. The absolute best song on the album is "Sister Rosetta," which is surprisingly poetic, in the way of certain half-religious, half-outlaw blues songs -- "I looked for the light in the words of St. Matthew / Took heed of his call to come and congregate / I got me a ticket for that sweet gospel train / But Lord, I got to the station a moment too late." The chorus is a rousing guitar line. And "The Night We Nearly Got Busted" is pure outlaw country (albeit with beeping keyboards), a story about robbing a mansion while reminding the listener that "it was the Lord who set us free." There's even a slightly technoed-up cover of John Prine's "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness." Not only is it excellent, but it makes a perfect fit with A3's own lyrical style.

Of course, the band's fervour is completely artificial, but hey, actual country music is a simulacrum anyway. The parody of country music is ridiculous, but affectionate. If the album has a weakness, in my view, it's that it leans a bit too much on the fiddle-and-harmonica side (especially with the gospel chorus of "Hypo Full Of Love" immediately followed by the weepy ballad "The Old Purple Tin") and not enough on the techno side. Furthermore, the techno elements are mostly limited to drum machines and incidental keyboards. I'd have liked to see a denser production with more samples, like the background in the intro of "Converted," or a good dark techno rave-up similar in spirit to "The Night We Nearly Got Busted." Some editions of the album come with a bonus disc of techno remixes, but there's not that much danceable material, and it feels like "Converted" and "Woke Up This Morning" tie up the techno side of things between them. I also think some of the skits on the second side drag a bit -- "Hypo Full Of Love" is funny, but overlong, and "Peace In The Valley" has some oddly-placed cheap angst. "Sister Rosetta" really strengthens the second side, though.

Perhaps the reason why the band never really became successful (aside from the lucky Sopranos break) is because they didn't pander enough to either of their possible audiences. Clubgoers might be annoyed by the album's sarcastic depiction of their lifestyle, and bored by the lack of more sophisticated techno elements. Country fans, on the other hand, might dislike the overblown ridiculousness of the band's image, not to mention the one bizarre song about Mao Tse-tung, and they wouldn't get the techno references. And also, perhaps the ideas fueling the album weren't deep enough to sustain an entire career. Whatever the reason, after their debut, A3 sank into obscurity. But, as an unusual and creative application of techno, Exile On Coldharbour Lane is worth owning.