July 25th, 2002: site update
New design. New content soon (I hope).

Neotropic (Lemon Head / Chloé Sasson, Sound Summit)
"Being a female who happens to make electronic music, Riz Maslen is often asked about what it is like to be a female making electronic music. What most fail to probe, however, is her interests in outside of the studio activities. Nail polish, movies and shopping. "Ooh girlie things!" is the reply.[...]"

Profile: Riz Maslen (Pinknoises.com)
"Since 1994, Riz Maslen has released starkly original recordings as Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine, charting unique sonic territory with albums such as "15 Levels of Magnification" (1996) and "Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock" (1998). She forms a rough terrain of ambient noises interwoven occasionally with chunky beats; it is hard not to describe the music as cinematic, since the found sounds and thoughtful orchestrations insistently conjure memories of places and moods. [...]"

Rumble Fish (URB #50)
"Riz Maslen may be one of the most prominent women in electronic music, but don't expect her to leap up on a soapbox when her dearth of female colleagues is mentioned.
"There's a few more around now than there was, which I think is quite good," remarks the 26-year-old via phone from her London flat. By her own account, she's had no problems with sexism. So why are there so few woman writing and producing their own tracks? [...]"
Hosted locally, scanned and aranged by yours truly.

inerview with Riz Maslen (Soundproof)
"If recording artists wrote their own introductions, it might go like this:
"Hello! I'm Riz Maslen, but you'd more likely know me by my nom de guerre of Neotropic or Small Fish with Spine. I've recorded for NTone and all sorts of other labels. [...]"

Clocking In (Future Music #78, January '99)
"Few producers can claim to reach the standards set by Riz Maslen. Whether she's surfing the sine waves with her Small Fish With Spine project or pushing at the sonic boundaries behind her Neotropic moniker, hers is the sound of music constantly deconstructed and redefined. [...]"
Hosted locally, scanned and aranged by yours truly.

Insane Moon Soundtrack (XLR8R #34, December '98 / January '99)
"Riz Maslen is possibly electronic dance music's most accomplished female artist. Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine are just a few of her aliases. She writes beautiful and uncomfortable music that bares her emotional soul to the world in the form of distorted beats and waves of moody digital ambiance. She released not one but two full albums in 1998 each showing different stylistic methods. [...]"

5 Questions 2 Riz Maslen (Herbert Struyf for UZine, November '98)
"Surveillance and its impact on our personal lives was the (loose) thread running through the music on your previous album. Is anything similar going on on Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock?
this album is more about my emotional journey during the writing of the album..... brubaker is quite a personal album and definitely reflects my state of mind at that time, [...]"

Neotropic: The Tumble Weed EP
1995, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE13), 12"

A1. From Small Acorns
A2. Neotropic
A3. Aloo Gobi
A4. Regents Park
B1. La Centinela
B2. Here I Am
B3. Spot The Dog
B4. Distant Drums

review by Bleed, Frontpage 5/08:
"Ganz schön lässig, eine Ambient LP, schnarch, hinlegen, abtropfen lassen wie guten Salat, nicht daran denken das die Welt düster ist, sondern es empfinden, wie Soundso im Wind biegen lassen, zwei Bewußtseinshhaufen weiter runter, jetzt klumpt die Wahrnehmung nicht mehr, und man kann einen Vernünftigen Landliebejoghurt draus machen. 8 Tracks, alle weich wie das Hirn von Newt Gingrich, in feiner Antistatic Verpackung wie immer aber ohne dieses wirklich durchdringende Bewußtsein davon daß alles auf dieser Erde wichtig sein kann, nicht nur die Ornithologie. Die Stücke mit fast nur Geräusch sind die besten der Platte, die mit Rhythmus die schlechteren."

Neotropic: 15 Levels Of Magnification
1996, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE17/NTONECD17), LP/CD

Neotropic: Laundrophonic EP
1996, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE18), 12"

A1. Laundry pt.1
A2. Laundry pt.2
B1. Laundry pt.3
B2. Laundry pt.4

Neotropic: 15 Levels Of Magnification remixes
1997, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE21/NTONECD21), 12"/CDS

[vinyl]
A1. 15 Levels Of Magnification (Arcon 2 remix)
A2. 15 Levels Of Dante's Inferno (Neotropik remix)
B1. 15 Levels Of Your Stealth (The Phat Girls remix)
B2. 15 Levels Of The Empire State (Small Fish With Spine remix)

[CD]
01. 15 Levels Of Magnification (Arcon 2 remix)
02. 15 Levels Of Dante's Inferno (Neotropik remix)
03. 15 Levels Of Your Stealth (The Phat Girls remix)
04. 15 Levels Of The Empire State (Small Fish With Spine remix))
05. Laundrophonic pt. 4
06. The Older You Get The Smaller You Become
07. Creepy Big Face
08. 15 Levels of Magnification (original)

review by Corbin for XLR8R:
"This, my fellow music devotees, is a piece of work. In keeping with last issue's dark motif this is one sinister sounding piece of vinyl. Side A delivers two moody, atmospheric tracks, reminding one of the factory music in the old Warner Brother's cartoons. But don't be fooled! With its bouncy beats and haunting horn riffs it's still dancefloor material, just not as uplifting as, say, anything Up With People have put out. Side B reworks the title track into a D&B excursion, albeit an intense one at that. This one is definitely NOT for the weak hearted."

Neotropic: Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock
1998, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE30/NTONECD30), CD/LP

01. Mr Brubakers Strawberry Alarm Clock
02. Ultra Freaky Orange
03. Under Violent Objects
04. Insane Moon
05. What Will I Do
06. Vacetious Blooms
07. Beached
08. Untitled
09. Apple Sauce
10. Saucer Song
11. Gutted
12. You're Grinding Me Down
13. Sideshow Man
14. Vent
15. Cremation

review by George Zahora, Splendid Zine:
"As the panthoen of electronica consists almost entirely of male artists, Riz Maslen (aka Neotropic, more or less) sticks out simply by being female. It's important to stress, therefore, that Neotropic's music sticks out on its own. It's an intricate blend of environmental audio and danceable rhythms that's never quite drum and bass, never quite trip hop, never quite the bog-standard version of any sound you've heard before. [...]" (full review)

Neotropic: Ultra Freaky Orange
1999, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE29), CDS/12"

01. Ultra Freaky Orange (album version)
02. Ultra Freaky Orange (Deep Fried Clams mix: Attack Of The Ninja Fish)
03. Vacetious Blooms premix (Spinforms 'massage')
04. Ultra Freaky Orange (Red Math's dark extraction)
05. Ultra Freaky Orange (Starbean mix)
06. Ultra Freaky Alarm Clock (Bin Dogs remix)

original versions of 'Ultra Freaky Orange' and 'Vacetious Blooms' taken from 'Mr. Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock'

Neotropic: La Prochaine Fois
2001, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONECD44/NTONE44), 2xCD/LP

[CD1]
01. Sunflower Girl
02. Cornershop Candy
03. Train To Katoomba
04. Still
05. Slink
06. The Man Who Catches Clouds
07. Closer To The Sun
08. In Reverse Order
09. Je Suis
10. Rote
11. Micro-Cosmic
12. Money For Old Rope
13. Memories

[CD2]
01. La Prochaine Fois 'An Ambient Road Movie' (video)

review by Shan Frowler, Pop Matters:
"Riz Maslen is somewhat of an enigma in electronic music. For starters, she's not that electronic. In the past she's leaned toward creating her version of music on machines that make sound digitally as opposed to the traditional, natural wind and vibration methods. But even when she's twiddling with modern machines, there's an organic warmth (though not always an emotional warmth) to the sounds being created. [...]" (full review)

Neotropic: Sunflower Girl
2001, NTone / Ninja Tune (NTONE45), 7"

A1. Sunflower Girl
B1. Running (Claire's hat is blue)

A1 taken from the album 'La Prochaine Fois'

Small Fish With Spine: Stickleback EP
1995, Oxygene Music Works (OMWE008), 12"

A1. Siolim
A2. I Hate You
A3. Junk Food
B1. Meiko
B2. Hollywood
B3. Anjuan Fleamarket Goa

Small Fish With Spine: I Hate You remixes
1995, Oxygene Music Works (OMWPS1), 12"

A1. I Hate You ("View From A Spacepod: pre" Coldcut remix)
A2. I Hate You ("View From A Spacepod: during" Coldcut remix)
A3. I Hate You
B1. I Hate You ("Freaky's Trancehall Jam" Freaky Chakra remix)
B2. I Hate You ("View From A Spacepod: post" Coldcut remix)

Small Fish With Spine: Fugu EP
1996, Oxygene Music Works (OMWE014), 12"

A1. Eat Humble Pie
A2. Bully Beef
B1. The City Stinks
B2. He Build The World

Small Fish With Spine: Fugu remixes
1996, Oxygene Music Works (OMWPS4), 12"

A1. Fugu ("Ollie's Turntables" Ollie Teeba remix)
B1. Fugu (Melting Pot reforge pt. 1)
B2. Fugu (Melting Pot reforge pt. 2)

Small Fish With Spine: The Hilltop EP
1997, Apollo / R&S (APOLLO27), 12"

A1. The Hilltop
A2. Frostbyte
B1. SQ 4
B2. Smart Fish (very smart)

review by CB from MUZIK February 1997:
"Neotropic's Riz Maslen returns to her original project name for a new R&S outing. That she's previously worked with Future Sound of London is clear immediately. These four tracks take your staple sounds of trip hop, jungle and ambient, and bugger them to dark buggery, making for very perverse if strangely funky futurescapes. Like Future Sound, they are adventurers in abstraction and prick the fingers of all those who follow formulas."

Small Fish With Spine: Ultimae Sushi
1997, Oxide Rec. / OMW (OXIDECD1), CD

01. [untitled track]
02. Fung Koo
03. Opium Den
04. Four Play
05. Concubine
06. High Fibre
07. In Your Own Bubble

Bastard Tracks
1994, Different Drummer (CDGOD12/LPGOD12), CD/LP

C2. Neotropic: Bubble Dub

Music Is Immortal
1996, Different Drummer, CD

B2. Neotropic: Bubble Dub ('Rizla's Delight mix' by Rockers HiFi)

DJ Food: Refried Food pts.3&4
199x, Ninja Tune (ZEN21/3), CD/LP

B2. Inosan ('neohead phone head fuck' by Neotropic)

Grain: Does Jesus Have Buddha Nature ?
1996, Different Drummer / Fragrant (FRA005), 12"

xx. ? (Neotropic remix)

Sky Cries Mary: Moonbathing On Sleeping Leaves
1997, Warner Brothers, CD (promo only)

04. Moonbathing ('glouchester place remix' by Neotropic)
05. Moonbathing ('shoreditch remix' by Neotropic)

Mantronix: Bass Machine Re-Tuned EP
1997, Oxygene Music Works (OMWPS6), 12"

B1. Bass Machine Re-Tuned (Phat Girl's tuning)

B1 remixed by The Phat Girlz aka. Riz Maslen.

Low: owL remix Low
1998, Vernon Yard (VYD027), CD

02. Anon (spore remix by Neotropic)
05. Anon (pollen remix by Neotropic)
06. Do You Know How To Waltz (vert remix by Neotropic)

review by Colin Helms, CMJ New Music Report Issue: 581 - Aug 3, 1998 :
"[...] Neotropic (a.k.a. Small Fish With Spine) takes on three of the eight tracks here, mining Low's originals for their stark, ominous ambiance and then dropping in an array of tripped-out beats and haunting instrumental accents from odd angles. [...]" (full review at chairkickers.com)

Skinny Puppy: ReMix Dys Temper
1998, ?, CD

05. Love In Vein ('go girl trio mix' by Neotropic)

Frank Chickens: We Are Ninja remixes
2000, Ninja Tune (ZEN1289), 12"

A1. We Are Ninja ('chicken feed mix' by Neotropic)
B3. We Are Ninja (Neotropic mix no.2)

Ekko: Ekkocenric - the ecco remixes
2000, Interchill (ICHILLDC09/ICHILLLP09), 2xCD/LP

[CD2]
01: Funky Samosa (Neotropic remix)

Mich Gerber: ?
199x, ?, ?

?

I need more info.

Bip-Hop Generation vol.3
2001?, Bip-Hop (BLEEP05), CD

01. Neotropic: My Head May Be Small, But My Heart Is Bigger Than Yours
02. Neotropic: High Fibre

Council Folk is the label installed by Riz Maslen and Paul Jason Fredericks in 2001 "to put out their own music and that of like-minded artists, the core elements being based around the fusion of electronic music and acoustic, creating a new wave of folk music with an inventive profile." (www.councilfolk.com)

Frederick & Nina: Place To Hide / Running
2001, Council Folk Recordings (CF01), 7"

A1. Place To Hide
B1. Running

Frederick & Nina feat. DoseOne: Head / 10th Floor Witches
2001, Council Folk Recordings (CF02), 7"

A1. Head
B1. 10th Floor Witches

Linda Lewis: Keep A Wish / I Don't Do Don't
2002, Council Folk Recordings (CF03), 7"

A1. Keep A Wish
B1. I Don't Do Don't