building7
2003-08-17 14:22:22 UTC
I've had the new Front 242 for a quite while now, (when did it come
out, April?) and I've given it lots of listening time, so here's a few
thoughts. I'm sure all of you who like reading reviews have probably
read enough of them already, written by reviewers most likely with
more skill than I, but I had this "F242 Pulse thoughts.txt" sitting on
my desktop begging to be written into a semi-coherent post.
In short, Pulse is quite nice. I wouldn't call it mind blowingly
fantastic, but it's certainly worthy of your time.
First off, the disc's graphics. Also fairly nice, but I tend to prefer
the earlier graphical work of 242, especially Politics of Pressure
and Official Version. I'm more luke-warm to their '90s graphics
(particularly the sony re-releases of their old work, fine to have the
CG spiky ball for one disc, but for all of them?), although I really
like the graphical design for Live Code. The way they use the
translucent yellow plastic over the clouded plastic sleeve with the
line work is really, really nice. On the outside, Pulse is fairly
generic, with colorful computer swirls, the new "II IIII II" symbol on
the front and a fairly plain dark grey back. The inside is quite nice
though, with the outside's mishmash of colors giving way to silvery
blurs, offset very nicely by dark red characters. The swirling track
listing is my favorite part out of the whole design, the alternating
colors makes it nice and easy to read the listing too. Opening the
sleeve reveals a red-tinted dog on a grey background, with credits and
such on a red background off to the side. I have a feeling that the
scale of this part really doesn't do it justice, it would be much
better suited to be massive and wall sized, rather than hidden away
inside a CD case, but maybe that's just me.
Anyway, the music. The disc starts off with five SEQ666 tracks (P U L
S and E) sounding very much like something from Up Evil or Evil Off
after it's been given the Reboot treatment. Quite nice. It's quite
interesting how different the tracks sound listened to as one whole,
as opposed to treated as separate objects. An interesting little
technique. Each track is like a different take on the same theme,
without sacrificing a very good flow from start to finish.
Next is Together, the first real 'song' of the album. This is more
what you would imagine as the return of Front 242, with a very
interesting electronic soundscape put to sloganized vocals. "To belong
to belonging" is the chant of choice for this track. The electronics
are quite harsh, lots of fairly abrasive sounds mixed with small alarm
like sounds. Not what I would call Noise or anything, but certainly
abrasive in its sound. The music dominates the piece, with the vocals
being much more in the background, but still certainly there.
The following track is Triple X Girlfriend. A softer, more melodic
track. "I will sink soon" is the most repeated string of words here,
and a pretty good indication of the songs mood. It's not dominant in
it's depression though, just slow and relaxed.
No More No More is next, slightly picking up the pace from the
previous track and reintroducing a beat. The vocals are electronically
altered in their pacing, sounding as if they are being played
backwards and forwards at random. The track seems like an exercise in
layering of various loops. Not really much else I can say about it,
I'm fairly indifferent to it.
Beyond the Scale of Comprehension follows, a track with atmospheric
electronics devoid of any 'thump thump thump thump'. Another soft and
slow track but this time the vocals are distorted. Of course they are
also quite subdued, as most of the vocals on this disc. I can't quite
pick out what's being said on this track, but the music has a somewhat
eery feel to it.
Untitled is the name of the next track. Back to melodic music and
vocals. Quite soft, although there is a sense of the music slowly
picking up in it's activity a little. Again, fairly relaxing.
Starcandy, the following track is the second half of this piece
('Song' is their shared title), with the music subtly gaining in it's
activity, until at the end there are a variety of electronic elements
and a noticeable beat. An interesting little track.
Silence for a few short seconds, then the next piece, One, made from
the two tracks With the Fire and Reverse. There's a return of a beat
and the more typical Front 242 vocals, although still fairly subdued
(picking up a theme here?). The way the vocals and music 'react' to
each other is rather interesting. For some reason the electronics
really do make me think of fire. I don't know why, but it generates
that mental image in my head. I'm fairly impressed by that.
The next piece is Matrix, the two tracks Openstatic and Megahertz.
Openstatic is dominated by the loop of a skipping record at its end
with various electronic outbursts in the foreground. Megahertz kicks
in fairly seamlessly with a nice bit of bashing on drums for a moment,
then stopping for a violin loop with distorted vocals speaking the
first words. Then typical Front 242 vocals kick in with a beat and
simple electronics. The slogan for this track is "The media, my army,
the money, the will". Very nice, my personal favorite from the album.
A real shame it's so short, I would really like to hear a longer
version...
The next two part piece, Never Lost, is split into Faust and Riley.
Faust is more slow melodic electronics, with slight elements of
electric screeching in the background. Riley does for Never Lost what
Starcandy does for Song. Slow gain in the soundscapes activity.
There's a few interesting background samples here and there, and some
of the loops are fairly nice.
Next track, the last stand-alone one, is called 7Rain <Filter>. Where
would 242 be without triangular brackets? Slow ambient start, with
very quiet vocals, followed shortly after by a slow beat. Vocals get a
bit louder, and turn into a nice melody. "Am I getting grey?" is an
interesting little tidbit. "Do I get insane from the role I play?". I
quite like the lyrics for this one. A very easy track to listen to,
certainly not the pounding EBM that made Front 242 famous, but very
nice none the less. Probably my second favorite track on the album.
The last piece, Pan, split into Dhe and Mihk, picks up the pace fairly
quickly. Much more active and beat driven, layered with the almost
random electronic beeps and blurts that seem to characterize this
album. I like the ending, nice little humorous finish.
When considered as a whole, Pulse is a much more melodic album then
perhaps what a lot of people were expecting. It still has it's active
moments, but there's not a lot of sloganized chanting going on. There
is, however, a great deal of emphasis put on subtlety. Perhaps because
the only releases Front 242 has done in almost a decade have been live
albums and remix albums all featuring the big chant tracks to cheering
crowds we've been a little blinded to the fact that this is actually
how Front 242 has always sounded in the studio. Go pick up your copy
Official Version and play Masterhit. They're not really shouting like
they do live, are they?
So perhaps at first glance, Pulse doesn't really sound like what we
expect to hear from Front 242. However after a bit more listening it
does actually seem like a fairly logical step. It'll be very
interesting to see how it gets treated live, and what the work that
follows it will sound like.
I recommend Pulse. It's an entertaining album. However I wouldn't say
that I recommend it to everyone, because if you are expecting this
disc to be non-stop stomping and chanting then you'll be sorely
mistaken. But, if the short track descriptions sound like something
that you might want to hear, then go geddit. It's worth your time.
out, April?) and I've given it lots of listening time, so here's a few
thoughts. I'm sure all of you who like reading reviews have probably
read enough of them already, written by reviewers most likely with
more skill than I, but I had this "F242 Pulse thoughts.txt" sitting on
my desktop begging to be written into a semi-coherent post.
In short, Pulse is quite nice. I wouldn't call it mind blowingly
fantastic, but it's certainly worthy of your time.
First off, the disc's graphics. Also fairly nice, but I tend to prefer
the earlier graphical work of 242, especially Politics of Pressure
and Official Version. I'm more luke-warm to their '90s graphics
(particularly the sony re-releases of their old work, fine to have the
CG spiky ball for one disc, but for all of them?), although I really
like the graphical design for Live Code. The way they use the
translucent yellow plastic over the clouded plastic sleeve with the
line work is really, really nice. On the outside, Pulse is fairly
generic, with colorful computer swirls, the new "II IIII II" symbol on
the front and a fairly plain dark grey back. The inside is quite nice
though, with the outside's mishmash of colors giving way to silvery
blurs, offset very nicely by dark red characters. The swirling track
listing is my favorite part out of the whole design, the alternating
colors makes it nice and easy to read the listing too. Opening the
sleeve reveals a red-tinted dog on a grey background, with credits and
such on a red background off to the side. I have a feeling that the
scale of this part really doesn't do it justice, it would be much
better suited to be massive and wall sized, rather than hidden away
inside a CD case, but maybe that's just me.
Anyway, the music. The disc starts off with five SEQ666 tracks (P U L
S and E) sounding very much like something from Up Evil or Evil Off
after it's been given the Reboot treatment. Quite nice. It's quite
interesting how different the tracks sound listened to as one whole,
as opposed to treated as separate objects. An interesting little
technique. Each track is like a different take on the same theme,
without sacrificing a very good flow from start to finish.
Next is Together, the first real 'song' of the album. This is more
what you would imagine as the return of Front 242, with a very
interesting electronic soundscape put to sloganized vocals. "To belong
to belonging" is the chant of choice for this track. The electronics
are quite harsh, lots of fairly abrasive sounds mixed with small alarm
like sounds. Not what I would call Noise or anything, but certainly
abrasive in its sound. The music dominates the piece, with the vocals
being much more in the background, but still certainly there.
The following track is Triple X Girlfriend. A softer, more melodic
track. "I will sink soon" is the most repeated string of words here,
and a pretty good indication of the songs mood. It's not dominant in
it's depression though, just slow and relaxed.
No More No More is next, slightly picking up the pace from the
previous track and reintroducing a beat. The vocals are electronically
altered in their pacing, sounding as if they are being played
backwards and forwards at random. The track seems like an exercise in
layering of various loops. Not really much else I can say about it,
I'm fairly indifferent to it.
Beyond the Scale of Comprehension follows, a track with atmospheric
electronics devoid of any 'thump thump thump thump'. Another soft and
slow track but this time the vocals are distorted. Of course they are
also quite subdued, as most of the vocals on this disc. I can't quite
pick out what's being said on this track, but the music has a somewhat
eery feel to it.
Untitled is the name of the next track. Back to melodic music and
vocals. Quite soft, although there is a sense of the music slowly
picking up in it's activity a little. Again, fairly relaxing.
Starcandy, the following track is the second half of this piece
('Song' is their shared title), with the music subtly gaining in it's
activity, until at the end there are a variety of electronic elements
and a noticeable beat. An interesting little track.
Silence for a few short seconds, then the next piece, One, made from
the two tracks With the Fire and Reverse. There's a return of a beat
and the more typical Front 242 vocals, although still fairly subdued
(picking up a theme here?). The way the vocals and music 'react' to
each other is rather interesting. For some reason the electronics
really do make me think of fire. I don't know why, but it generates
that mental image in my head. I'm fairly impressed by that.
The next piece is Matrix, the two tracks Openstatic and Megahertz.
Openstatic is dominated by the loop of a skipping record at its end
with various electronic outbursts in the foreground. Megahertz kicks
in fairly seamlessly with a nice bit of bashing on drums for a moment,
then stopping for a violin loop with distorted vocals speaking the
first words. Then typical Front 242 vocals kick in with a beat and
simple electronics. The slogan for this track is "The media, my army,
the money, the will". Very nice, my personal favorite from the album.
A real shame it's so short, I would really like to hear a longer
version...
The next two part piece, Never Lost, is split into Faust and Riley.
Faust is more slow melodic electronics, with slight elements of
electric screeching in the background. Riley does for Never Lost what
Starcandy does for Song. Slow gain in the soundscapes activity.
There's a few interesting background samples here and there, and some
of the loops are fairly nice.
Next track, the last stand-alone one, is called 7Rain <Filter>. Where
would 242 be without triangular brackets? Slow ambient start, with
very quiet vocals, followed shortly after by a slow beat. Vocals get a
bit louder, and turn into a nice melody. "Am I getting grey?" is an
interesting little tidbit. "Do I get insane from the role I play?". I
quite like the lyrics for this one. A very easy track to listen to,
certainly not the pounding EBM that made Front 242 famous, but very
nice none the less. Probably my second favorite track on the album.
The last piece, Pan, split into Dhe and Mihk, picks up the pace fairly
quickly. Much more active and beat driven, layered with the almost
random electronic beeps and blurts that seem to characterize this
album. I like the ending, nice little humorous finish.
When considered as a whole, Pulse is a much more melodic album then
perhaps what a lot of people were expecting. It still has it's active
moments, but there's not a lot of sloganized chanting going on. There
is, however, a great deal of emphasis put on subtlety. Perhaps because
the only releases Front 242 has done in almost a decade have been live
albums and remix albums all featuring the big chant tracks to cheering
crowds we've been a little blinded to the fact that this is actually
how Front 242 has always sounded in the studio. Go pick up your copy
Official Version and play Masterhit. They're not really shouting like
they do live, are they?
So perhaps at first glance, Pulse doesn't really sound like what we
expect to hear from Front 242. However after a bit more listening it
does actually seem like a fairly logical step. It'll be very
interesting to see how it gets treated live, and what the work that
follows it will sound like.
I recommend Pulse. It's an entertaining album. However I wouldn't say
that I recommend it to everyone, because if you are expecting this
disc to be non-stop stomping and chanting then you'll be sorely
mistaken. But, if the short track descriptions sound like something
that you might want to hear, then go geddit. It's worth your time.