'Electronic Highway' C.J. Bolland
1. Tower of Naphtali
2. Con Spirito
3. Nec Plus Ultra
4. Zenith
5. Bones
6. Catharsis
7. Spoof [Remix]
8. Neural Paradox
9. Drum Tower
This overlooked 1995 release is one of my most favourite techno albums besides the early Orbital ones. Cold yet dramatic, 'Electronic Highway' conveys a pulsating and mesmerising world of bleeps and artificial sounds. 'Electronic Highway' is a hypnotic world of sound, quite like that forgotten masterpiece from Code, 'The Architect'. Sadly, I haven't heard very many good techno albums since. FSOL has returned but who really cares? Pretentious Moby sucks the big one.
There are good stuff which I have probably missed in recent years. Oh well.
5 comments:
as a united fan, i say this: *sobz*
Personal fav is still The Analogue Theatre. Not only cause of Sugar is Sweeter but it was overall more coherent.His albums are so rare these days.
FSOL didn't "return" right? They never really went away...There were the Amorphous Androgynous for some time now. And FSOL wasn't really techno...How to classify albums like Dead Cities, Accelerator and Life Forms?
Half agree on the Moby but though. =)
Merv, we must save you from yourself!Hahahaha.
Little Fish, you are probably right regarding FSOL. They vanished from the radar some years ago. Then, there was an interview with one of the folks in it and he said that he had a near death experience and from that point onwards, he would be releasing organic albums of some sort, following which, stuff was released. I think their momentum was lost some time back. Yeah, you're right, they weren't really techno, probably closer to an ambient side?
I didn't know FSOL were something else.
I can't stand 'Play' and a few other of Baldy's pretentious pate (pun intended). Hahaha. Well, it's popular and it's well-liked. I can't begrudged him on that.
Ahh... 'Analogue Theatre' was somewhat short-loved for me. I think I have the single too but I guess I didn't care for it. 'The 4th Sign' wasn't that memorable for me either. You're right about his material being rare.
Is 'Electronic Highway' not thematic? Is it not consistent in sound throughout?
On another note, how would you classify Apollo 440?
But there's no denying that PLAY was the only album with ALL the songs being licensed for some advert or something. He was good during his PLAY album and brilliant before. Someone gotta take the mike away from him.
Apollo 440? I'd always thought that their collaboration with the late Billy MacKenzie (Pain In Any Language) was their best. Not stomping. But some much stronger. Classify? Aiyah, I am not a music journalist who is interested in creating brand news names for genres and catagorising every artist. So Apollo 440 tries to skip this nasty journalistic habit by remixing as stealth sonic orchestra. brilliant remix of the manic street preachers' kevin carter.
FSOL are also The Amorphous Androgynous. Two albums - The Isness and Alice in Ultraland. Can't find the second one so far.
Always enjoy the stuff you write. Great site to discover new music and rediscover old ones.
Fish, I guess my dislike of blues, R&B elements heightened my dislike of 'Play' even more. I heard some previous stuff like 'I love to score' but I guess I don't find them impressive.
I can't remember Apollo 440's work with Billy MacKenzie. I think I stopped buying their CDs some years back. I probably have the albums and singles for the first three. I will look that up.
Well, I read your blog and I notice you do have quite an exposure to a diverse range of music. Thus, it is interesting. I am quite narrow in my little ways.
Thanks for your words regarding the little blog I write. I appreciate them.
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