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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
atmosfear, July 29, 2004
This review is from: Dead Cities (Audio CD)
Along with ISDN this is FSOL grandest album. Dead Cities has everything going for it. Trippy beats and crisp percussion. Lots of atmospheric synths and floaty drones. A good sprinkling of chants too which I enjoy. Not only that but there are faster moments too.
Personal pics :
Dead Cities - very intimidating electronic. Overly agressive. Love it.
We Have Explosive - Again it's a faster track that builds upon a hard hitting electronic buzz hit. Pretty good although not as brilliant as some of the others on offer.
Everyone in the world - beautiful female voice which is joined by a larger choir. Pure atmosphere on this one. Sad too.
My Kingdom - More trip hop on this one. Really works. Especially when the female sample from Vangelis joins the mix.
Max - Nice change of pace. Very uplifting. Piano and sax. Creates great imagery of the sun rising in our
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wake me up already!, March 29, 2001
This review is from: Dead Cities (Audio CD)
When I first bought this, I had a mix of reactions, ranging from disgust to unjustified adoration.. Now that I've had plenty of time to expose myself to it, I can come up with a reasonable review. As this is my only FSOL purchase, I cannot compare it to their additional works (under this or any of their other ten thousand musical monikers). Nevertheless, if this opus is in any way representative of their other work, these guys are operating on genius level! They don't quite match up to Aphex Twin and Autechre level, yet they have a brand so unique that they are comparable. This album, along with about 99% of RDJ's SAW II and Ae's Tri Repetae, is quite possibly the closest you can safely get to a musical embodiment of a nightmare.. no joke. This music is so eerily beautiful it straddles the line between fear and seduction for the listener. Some songs are a bit of a turnoff, but others, such as #2:Dead Cities, #7:Max? Antique Toy? (stupid tracklisting),#10: Glass? Yage?, and #12: Through Your Gills..?? are absolutely blissful.. while others are in-your-face, almost to a maddening point, such as the ever-too-popular We Have Explosive (#4). Despite it's over use (everything from MTV to Wipeout XL to a homemade action flick :-), it's quite well constructed, and very energetic. As a whole, the tracks seem a tad flimsy.. not as solid as your stereotypical IDM or as deep, but upon further examination it becomes apparent that it's simply the sound of it.. it's actually more complex than you'd think. It has a very menacing, apocalyptic cityscape theme.. and is very death oriented (read the track titles). It creates a pretty strong vibe. The end is especially effective, as #12's calm and melancholic piano ballad with guitar and a girl's innocent laughter is sickeningly cut off by a harsher, morbid melodic permutation of the previous track, called First Death In The Family: an unpleasant reminder of how quickly happiness can change to dread. It's a fairly eclectic collection: Track #9 leaves you gasping for air as you die drowning all alone in a dense quagmire (hence the name, if I've got the tracks right..), you meander through the dreamlike afterlife of #10, until you are resurrected in the airy, breathing #11. My favorite track is #3: Her Face Forms In Summertime.. good night! If no other song proves their genius then this one will! Beautiful guitar strums swimming in reverb go in and out as more washes and FX pop up and rush in suddenly as melodic accompaniment with drums added later in the mix. This song, along with #10, is one of those tracks that actually makes you feel something as opposed to just analyzing it. These songs hit some core part of you when you don't expect it, and give you the sensation that you're no longer listening to music but are rather drawn into a separate world that is both created by the artist, but also present in the deepest recesses of your subconscious. (Sorry about that incomprehensible babble). It's almost as if these types of songs are what remain flowing through your head while lying in bed after waking up from a weird dream. Man, I can't say enough good about this album. It's not immediately appealing, but if you give it time, you will be rewarded!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pre-Millennium Tension, December 21, 2003
This review is from: Dead Cities (Audio CD)
Future Sound Of London's last tribute to the 20th century is an apocalyptic peace of mastery. With dark, almost industrial heavy beat on some of the tracks (Herd Killing, We Have Explosive), and ice-beautiful melodies on others (Glass, Through Your Gills I Breath), this album weaves a tapestry of opposites. There is compassion (Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me), and majestic (My Kingdom). You progress through the album, closer to the climax of his apocalyptic end, and just when you think it's over, and the cities are ruined, there is a last gasp of air. A distant heavy rock band is playing the continues mantra, repeatedly crying "dead cities, dead cities" before melting away.
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