Electronic

Lifeforms is the 1994 album from the Future Sound of London. A double album (just), it also features the talents of Robert Fripp, Ozric Tentacles, Talvin Singh, Toni Halliday, and Liz Frazer. It reached number 6 on the UK album chart and went silver.

At the new year, thoughts and spare time for writing point me toward writing some new posts for my understated classics series. Expect some new ones soon.

I don't know about you, but lately I've been in need of some music that:

In a perfect confluence of last month's album digest, here's an excellent Four Tet remix of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's "I Will Make Room For You" from her album "The Kid". I've put it into a playlist with "Lush" from Four Tet's "New Energy" album and the original version of "I Will Make Room For You."

I came late to Orbital's work. I knew of them through a few remixes and because as a mad Orb fan, they could not have avoided my notice could they? Apart from that, one of my college friends tried to get me into "In Sides" just after its release in 1996. The same friend got me into "Second Toughest In The Infants" by Underworld. I cannot now understand the reason, but "In Sides" just left me cold.

The Orb return with a new EP on the Kompakt label called "Alpine".

Last week Underworld reissued their excellent second album “Second Toughest In The Infants” in various formats including a four disc super deluxe edition. I wrote about this album in my understated classics series and I want to share some thoughts on the reissue. I love this album so I was excited to hear the remaster and the additional material.

This little masterpiece was released in 1991. I got my copy on cassette for Christmas that year, but by May in 1992 they'd already "retired" and split up.

The thirtieth understated classic is by a band named after a fish. There isn't a great deal for me to say about "Our Aim Is To Satisfy"[^1] apart from the usual insistence that it is quite good. There's no overarching theme to write about, and no deep personal story attached. It was bound to happen eventually.

I recently spruced up a post I wrote four years ago about Biosphere’s wonderful album Substrata. I added the following footnote about the difference between voice samples and found sound:

Or at least its subversive soundtrack…

It was quite hard to choose an 808 State album for the understated classics series for two reasons. The first is that I was introduced to 808 State quite late through a friend's sister's cassette copy of The Shamen's En-Tact (the original version recorded from vinyl that had a thirteen minute version of "Evil Is Eden") that also had -- to fill out the C90 -- the full length sweary version of "What Time Is Love?" by The KLF and four tracks: "Cubik", "Pacific", "Olympic" (I think...), and "In Yer Face".

I have had a lot of ideas for posts swirling around in my head in recent days. This is because I have actually done quite a lot of cool things in that time, and because I have hung out with some great people who make me think, and because I always have a whole load of things bouncing around in there anyway - space junk of the mind. I was thinking about how to put together these thoughts I have been having about art and about stories and yes, about love too. It all kind of got muddled up and then I saw it.

The second Woob album (AKA “Woob 4495”) is probably the greatest ambient album ever made and is certainly the best one you have never heard of. Originally released in 1995 on the em:t label it is also a rare record. I don’t have an actual copy but I have seen one! I downloaded it off the internet and even that is quite difficult to do. My friend is an avid collector of all the em:t releases and it is easy to see why: all the albums are titled in a specific way that is very appealing to people who like to collect things and they also have very striking nature photography on the covers. In a strange way, the label was able to create an identity for its releases in a way that many artists would try to.

“I see the people working and see it working for them.” (Sat In Your Lap)

Say what? We’re allowing compilations now?

Sit back and let it happen, / Let us take your time away.

Among Fields of Crystal / Wind in Lonely Fences

I got into Début via a cassette from the library, much like I did with Together Alone by Crowded House. I suppose it is less obscure than many of my choices for this strand but I do think that Post is more well-known (because of It’s Oh So Quiet, which we shall mention here only briefly) and that Homogenic is probably more popular among her fans.

I think it’s time to discuss your philosophy of drug use as it relates to artistic endeavour…

FUN FACT: It was because of the artwork to this album that I obsessively scrawled onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome onourwayhome on my pencil case at school. I also had a very passable u.f.orb logo drawn on it too.

Your rails, your fins, your thin paper wings

Background

In the understated classics series, I try to alternate between pop/rock and electronic albums. Keeping with this trend number eight is the wonderful dub-infused album Second Light by Dreadzone. Released in 1996 it was well-received critically and four of its tracks featured on John Peel's best-of-year list that year. Little Britain received a lot of radio play, a popular choice for that flag-waving period of britpop and assorted other demons.

Background

I discovered The Aloof while listening to the Top 40