Customer Reviews

Electro-Soma

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Put on this CD and "be obsessed." This is electronic music for dimmed or darkened rooms. Equilibrious blend of dreamy atmospherics and quirkiness over old school Detroit techno-house beat patterns. This is a true techno classic, still killer after all these years. Add this one to your collection. Beautiful stuff.

i own several other discs from the artificial intelligence series and i find myself listening to this one the most. bleepy is perhaps too generic of a word to describe it. every sound on electro soma comes together to create a soothing musical maelstrom. don't try to pick this one apart. b12's use of synth is mind-boggling and their drum programming is masterful. the resulting composition is not random as i find some idm.techno releases; electro soma is machine music with more heart and soul than you could imagine. few albums deserve five stars. i would give this one six if i could.

One of my all time favourite albums. I won't have a word said against this! Mike Golding and Steve Rutter produced this wonderful album for Warp back in the heyday of electronic music that was 1993.

Full of pristine synths, smooth basslines, spacey atmospherics, efficient beats and Detroit-esque strings and melodies, this album stands as one of the greatest ever electronic releases.

I'm surprised when I hear criticism of this album, some call it 'unimaginative', which I find baffling. To me, it's a very creative album. Golding and Rutter were often criticised, along with another genius Stasis (Steve Pickton), of ripping off the Detroit Techno scene and re-packaging it as their own sound. I think that criticism is highy unfair, there are differences between Detroit Techno and the music that B12 and Stasis are putting out. Sure, there may be an influence there, but that's it, it's just an influence. Stasis, by the way is a good friend of B12 and has worked with them.

B12 released this during the early days of Warp's Artificial Intelligence period, which is kind of the heydey of the "bleep" movement...

The album features lots of traditional techno drum machines and Detroit-ish strings, plus a rather fresh usage of the rhythm section of the JD800 synth. The programming and execution of these tracks is nothing short of astounding.

Nothing really groundbreaking though, but sort of a summation of the British take on clean Detroit style techno with a little Warp flavor thrown in. Warp would continue along different lines than these, with Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and such leading the way into drill and bass territories, but for me this was the best Warp era, and one of the best albums.

Put it on and let yourself drift to some excellent sounds.

Who would've thought electronic music could be so moving and emotional? This album inspired many future acts to take similar routes and I can definitely see why. So many highlights litter this album, and although a couple songs aren't as good the rest this remains a classic and a must have. Though the production isn't really "fascinating", it's good enough to hit you in all the right places (your emotions!). If you like electronic music you will love this (you might also like their followup "Time Tourist", too). Highly recommended.

Highlights include:
"Hall Of Mirrors"
"Mondrin"
"Obsessed"
"Bio Dimension"
"Obtuse"
"Telefone 529"
"Static Emotion"

since usually only a fan of something will bother to write a review, the majority you see on Amazon are positive,- 5 stars. it is however my duty to call any attention i can to this cd. i bought it almost a year ago and there may have been maybe a total of three days i havent listened to it. i own over athousand recordings and theres no other i can say that of.

this album is really something special.. smooth, complex rythems that will really move your brain cells .. it really gets in your head . and ever song has that same smooth feel . mixing up old style analog keyboard sounds with lots of harmony and little bleeps in things to really make a natural sounding sound track for the future .. B12 really stands out as something unique .. highly recomended

If you are a fan of techno, and like those blips and bleeps and futuristic city soundscapes, then you should check this out. Very intelligent.