mimus
2006-05-04 19:47:04 UTC
Probably the last thing Front 242 needed to do with their first original
release since Sony Servitude was to throw their old fan-base, rabid
hard-core electro-EBM types for the most part, for another loop (their
intermediate release _Re-Boot_ was of course disappointing if only because
it was new-technology covers of old songs).
And one really was expecting a nice release or at least song about
Corporate Music, yadda yadda yadda, somewhere along the way . . . .
And in _Pulse_, their first original release since Sony, they seem to have
done all of the above, each in their various ways.
The following block works nicely:
Front 242/Pulse (2003) (Metropolis)/ Never Lost (Faust _and_ Riley); 7Rain
(Filter); Beyond the Scale of Comprehension; Song (Untitled _and_ Star
Candy); and Together (34:17)
(Works nicely programming-wise, too, being tracks 16-18, 9-11 and 6.)
In essence, this block represents (as does I believe the album as a whole)
a relatively quiet and introspective release, much more electro than EBM,
verging upon Tangerine Dream in spots.
"Never Lost" uses piano surrounded by digital swirls in the first part
"Faust" and IIRC throughout. Integrating acoustic instruments into
electro-EBM is tricky (it took "Mr. Congeniality" Bill Leeb until _Hard
Wired_ to really successfully integrate guitar) but this works well. And
the second part "Riley" sounds very much like Tangerine Dream in spots--
extremely like-- amazingly-- but we digress (around _Ricochet_, I'd guess).
"7Rain" is a gorgeous song. Sounds gorgeous, anyway. There's no lyrics
included with the CD, and Jean Luc's vocals are subdued throughout this
album, all working well enough, of course, of course, but sort of a waste
of a fine commanding voice.
"Beyond the Scale of Comprehension" seems to be introspective about recent
experience with the rich and famous, kind of, sort of, but, again, there's
no lyrics, and you distinctly hear the phrase "freeze-drying" or maybe it's
"freeze-dried" go by, so who knows? A nice long seven-minute
bit-o'-electro.
"Song" is a song, alright, which in the second part, the instrumental "Star
Candy", starts kicking up the jams a bit.
And "Together" is a nice classic quiet kick-ass electro-EBM headbanger to
finish the block off with.
My take on this album is that it actually is a musical triumph, a
triumphant return musically for F242, but that it will take the fans awhile
to warm to it, something like (but hopefully not as severely as) with
Haujobb and _ninety-nine_.
(Incidentally, the first piece on the album, "SEQ666", a steadily-mounting
instrumental crescendo of electro-EBM drive, is broken up into five tracks
for no particular reason that I can see other than being able to label each
section and track "P", "U", "L", . . . . Whoever thought that up should be
shot, along with Leonard Bernstein, who was another one-- but he's already
dead, so . . . .)
release since Sony Servitude was to throw their old fan-base, rabid
hard-core electro-EBM types for the most part, for another loop (their
intermediate release _Re-Boot_ was of course disappointing if only because
it was new-technology covers of old songs).
And one really was expecting a nice release or at least song about
Corporate Music, yadda yadda yadda, somewhere along the way . . . .
And in _Pulse_, their first original release since Sony, they seem to have
done all of the above, each in their various ways.
The following block works nicely:
Front 242/Pulse (2003) (Metropolis)/ Never Lost (Faust _and_ Riley); 7Rain
(Filter); Beyond the Scale of Comprehension; Song (Untitled _and_ Star
Candy); and Together (34:17)
(Works nicely programming-wise, too, being tracks 16-18, 9-11 and 6.)
In essence, this block represents (as does I believe the album as a whole)
a relatively quiet and introspective release, much more electro than EBM,
verging upon Tangerine Dream in spots.
"Never Lost" uses piano surrounded by digital swirls in the first part
"Faust" and IIRC throughout. Integrating acoustic instruments into
electro-EBM is tricky (it took "Mr. Congeniality" Bill Leeb until _Hard
Wired_ to really successfully integrate guitar) but this works well. And
the second part "Riley" sounds very much like Tangerine Dream in spots--
extremely like-- amazingly-- but we digress (around _Ricochet_, I'd guess).
"7Rain" is a gorgeous song. Sounds gorgeous, anyway. There's no lyrics
included with the CD, and Jean Luc's vocals are subdued throughout this
album, all working well enough, of course, of course, but sort of a waste
of a fine commanding voice.
"Beyond the Scale of Comprehension" seems to be introspective about recent
experience with the rich and famous, kind of, sort of, but, again, there's
no lyrics, and you distinctly hear the phrase "freeze-drying" or maybe it's
"freeze-dried" go by, so who knows? A nice long seven-minute
bit-o'-electro.
"Song" is a song, alright, which in the second part, the instrumental "Star
Candy", starts kicking up the jams a bit.
And "Together" is a nice classic quiet kick-ass electro-EBM headbanger to
finish the block off with.
My take on this album is that it actually is a musical triumph, a
triumphant return musically for F242, but that it will take the fans awhile
to warm to it, something like (but hopefully not as severely as) with
Haujobb and _ninety-nine_.
(Incidentally, the first piece on the album, "SEQ666", a steadily-mounting
instrumental crescendo of electro-EBM drive, is broken up into five tracks
for no particular reason that I can see other than being able to label each
section and track "P", "U", "L", . . . . Whoever thought that up should be
shot, along with Leonard Bernstein, who was another one-- but he's already
dead, so . . . .)
--
Let there be throbbing.
Let there be throbbing.