Customer Reviews

Emotional Technology

5 star:		(210)
4 star:		(78)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

It was not possible to update the tracklist, so I'll use this review space for that purpose:

Revised version of Brian Transeau's 'Emotional Technology', originally released back in 2003. Features nine tracks from the original album on CD1, plus four previously unreleased tracks. The second CD comes with extended dance mixes of some of the tracks.


Disc 1
01. The Meeting Of A Hundred Yang
02. Knowledge Of Self
03. Simply Being Loved
04. Force Of Gravity
05. Dark Heart Dawning
06. The Great Escape
07. Paris
08. Kimosabe
09. The Revolution
10. Last Moment Of Clarity
11. Communicate
12. The Only Constant Is Change

Disc 2
01. Somnabulist (Mark Norman remix)
02. Love In The Time Of Thieves
03. Force Of Gravity (Tiesto remix)
04. Somnabulist (Junkie XL vocal mix)
05. Superfabulous (Toksin's Rawshaker mix)
06. The Force Of Gravity (Dylan Rhymes Push Up mix)
07. Kimosabe (Hyper remix)
08. Communicate (Toksin's Narcan remix)
09. Somnabulist (Sander Kleinenberg's Convertible mix)

Every electronic fan knows that BT is almost indisputably the finest producer in electronic music today. It is his love and his obsession and that comes across in every thing that he does. On the original UK version of Movement in Still Life, BT unleashed a truly incredible track in Satellite as an outro to the album. It featured tricked out guitar, electronics, organic percussion, and BT's very own singing. Now... after an amazing album exploding with deep trance, house, sick new school breakbeats, and some of the best production ever recorded, Satellite's eclecticism was like a breeze of fresh air.

Enter Emotional Technology, or as I like to call it Satellite 2. Sure he has the breakbeat/rap number and the dance tracks (a few of which are decent), but any listener can plainly tell BT's focus on this album is on these disgusting regurgitations of Satellite. He croons and he woos the ladies with his deep thoughtfulness and obscure rants. However, he is not Justin Timberlake or John Mayer and the result is... well frankly, embarassing. Throw all of these songs away and we are left with a handful of dance tracks and a breakz diddy.

Knowledge of Self is a pretty phat song to throw on in the car and drive fast to. I was ecstatic when I saw that Guru was being featured on the track, but was expecting him to spit a verse, which he never really does. I couldn't help but think this was a less exciting rehash of Smartbomb. As for the trance tracks, the music would be extremely impressive minus the vocals (which render nearly every track on here unlistenable.) The exception and the highlight of the album is The Great Escape. The vocals grate a bit on the nerves after repeated listens, but are used sparsely. BT really goes to town on this track and occasionally you will find yourself actually wondering if what you just heard actually happened and how anyone could produce such sounds. This is the BT I know and love, sappy love songs are not.

BT should follow this album with an "Ooops" and get back to a sound that he helped invent instead of trying to run with the 'poppers'.

This CD may very well simply be the best recorded musical work so far this century! Music is not a competition, or an exclusive club that you must join or stay loyal to. Who give a rats a** if BT has stayed "loyal" to the trance or house genre, or to dance music in general. The production quality of this CD, and the scope and musicality of this work of art, is the cutting edge and the state of the studio art today. It is pure ear candy, and worthy of the highest praise. This CD may NOT be for the die hard Trance fans and Ravers. But for the rest of the music loving public, this album simply shines!!!! It is groundbreaking. It does not fit into a single known genre. I hear elements of Enigma, Rush, Delerium, Steve Roach, Synthaesia, William Orbit and more, all working around the base style and sounds that BT has made his signature sound out of in all of his albums. It is an album that will have you listening over and over, picking out the tricks, effects, edits, changes, elements and washes of ambient sounds that evolve constantly throughout the music. The album takes you on a journey that is cinematic, atmospheric, full of of beat and groove, and all the while is remains SMOOTH, crisp, deep, surrounding you in BT's world. There are so many songs that will just STAY IN YOUR HEAD because they are so catchy. At first you might not realize it, but you will see very quickly, you just start singing these songs in your head. If you are closed minded, and closed off to experiencing this beautiful and amazingly intricate presentation of sonic technonlogy because it is not "true to the genre", then you are entitled to feel that way....but you are simply not "listening" to the production for what it is. This is a first rate, state of the art production that few people could possibly not be impressed and amazed with. If you love electronic music technology, and you want to hear sounds and effects that you have never heard before, and you like music that keeps you interested with exotic timbres, cutting edge edits and effects, atmospheric elements that put you in another place, but then groove you with smooth hand built custom beats that grow and evolve through a journey filled with beautiful vocals and vocal effects that turn the human voice into an electronic instrument (amazing at times), and ultra catchy rhythms...then RUN...don't walk...to buy this CD. You will NOT be disappointed. Die hard ravers and trancers beware. This is probably not for you. It's for the rest of the world who can appreciate something more than 4x4 bass drum on the floor. Not that there is anything wrong with that....but that is NOT what BT was trying to do here. BT has risen to the level of a true star these past few years. He is far beyond the scope of many of the Trance Artists and DJ's will ever hope to be in their careers. He is a producer extraordinare and composer that is now reaching into Hollywood movie scores, major music productions (such as the new Sting release), Sample CD's, Music technology, and of course his own music releases. To expect to hold him back to this one genre due to "loyalty", when he is a groundbreaking artist in such high demand accross so many genres and media forms for his one of a kind cutting edge sound sculpting abilities, would be a rediculous expectation. BT is the King right now, and Emotional Technology is the product of what is only befitting the King. It ROCKS! You should get it.....

Peace.

It's become pretty clear to me that BT wasn't trying to make a straight-ahead dance record this time around. I'm sure he could if he wanted to, but it wouldn't be as nearly as interesting (or enjoyable, in my opinion) as this. I'm tired of defending against fans who can't stand it when artists branch out and try something new with their music, so I'll just say that some people will love this, and some will hate it. To each his own. I love Emotional Technology, but for an entirely different reason than I love BT's other albums.

BT was the first artist that broke the whole "soulless techno music" stigma for me. It seems only appropriate that now he tests his own limits and incorporates many different genres of music into his own, making his songs much more personal, and carefully articulating matters close to his heart. Hard hitting breakbeat-styled techno with fluid rapping,(Knowledge of Self), uplifting and interesting dance anthems (Force of Gravity, Paris), softer acoustic based tunes (Animals), even a little bit of metal (Circles), and it all sounds fantastic. The flow of the album works very well too, as not a single song seems out of place, or out of order on the album. The production is immaculately crisp and a joy to hear, and when I say cutting edge, I mean it. This man pulls out every trick in the book, which makes sense, because he practically rewrote it from scratch when making ET. You'll be hearing new things on the third, fourth, and fifty-fourth listen of this album, because it was made to be experienced best in repeat hearings.

I can understand why people don't like this album, but do yourself a favor and listen to it first before making your own judgement. I think it's yet another great step in an BT's already amazing career.

BT once again has brought us something that chooses to expand our horizon and expectations with current electronic music. In this album, as with MISL, BT writes many songs that just can't be pinned down into a single subgenre - some containing either an eclectic sound or others just inventing new genres in themselves. However, if that doesn't do it for you, I guess the best way to describe the stuff you'll encounter would be a mix of trance (since, after all, BT was one of the pioneers of that particular subgenre), breakbeat, 80's rock, progressive, and acoustic rock songs. Yeah - it is quite the variety and you wonder how in the hell it will come together, oh, but it does come together EXTREMELY well due to BT's long history of classical music training (since the age of 4) and his expertise in programming and digital audio. My song recommendations would be Knowledge of Self (very similiar to MISL's Mad Skillz Mic-Chekka), Paris (a semi-trippy progressive style track), Last Moment of Clarity (Has a lot of roots in BT's ESCM days), and Dark Heart is Dawning (Similiar to MISL's satellite, but more emotional). This is a great CD and I would recommend it to anyone!

I shall confess upfront to being a fan of Brian Transeau's work. Since its release, his Movement in Still Life (Australian twin-disc edition) has held the place of favourite amongst my 300 or so CDs. I was curious as to how he would follow it up. Emotional Technology impresses on many fronts - production, variety, originality and musicianship, and brilliant craftsmanship in use of cutting-edge technology. This album is in itself a master class in creativity, and a humbling reminder to other artists and producers of what it means to work with originality and excellence. Do yourself a favour and buy it!

If you need to hear brainless, repetitive "copy and paste" music production then buy something else - you won't find four bars on this entire album identical to any other four. There are more care and thought put into the production of each one of the tracks on this CD than on many entire albums by other artists. It features big beats, engaging songs and a lot of sonic surprises. Respect, BT.

The individual tracks? Others have written eloquently on the matter.

In summary, should my house be burning down I shall first grab my copy of Emotional Technology in my right hand, then Movement In Still Life in my left and then consider whether there remains time to rescue the pets.

I have a decent CD collection (about 500), and this recording is my NUMBER ONE favorite, hands down.

What most people don't understand is that BT is a classically trained musician--he's not necessarily tied down to "electronic" or any other one specific genre. So if you are looking for straight-up techno or trance or whatever then this isn't going to neatly fit a category. If that will annoy you, then don't buy it. This is plain GREAT MUSIC regardless of what slot you want to put it in.

If you wait one more day without buying it, it's one more day of happiness you're missing out on.

We all know that BT knows his stuff, based on more masterful LPs such as ESCM and Ima. This album does display his ability to create excellent beats and catchy tunes, but falls short a little bit:

-The lyrics are mind-numbingly cliche. "come on" is said in standout track "Superfabulous" innumerable times. Don't think about what's being said in these tracks--you'll only be dissappointed.

-Why the heck is BT singing?

-It's a bit disheartening to see electronica masters such as BT, PvD, and Oakenfold move from good progressive house to more pop-like remixes.

If you're a BT fan there's certainly nothing stopping you from still enjoying this LP, but those who are hoping for another ESCM may as well keep looking.

With his last album Movement In Still Life, BT had moved on to experimenting with electronic and hip-hop. On Emotional Technology, the CD is split into two parts - first half of the CD is where you get the electronic sound with the layers and big beats, on the second half, there's a change in tempo and BT offers a more tranquil, almost worldy ambient feel.

JC Chasez returns a favor for BT's work on Celebrity and no worries, his backup vocals on the first single, Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved) doesn't spoil the broth. In fact, the single is certainly the catchiest song on the record with BT's trademark electronic stutter and vocodered vocal, which was one thing that could have been used more sparsely throughout the album. Chasez goes on to collaborate with BT on the Force of Gravity and the effect is suprisingly pleasant as the song is a club stomper no less. A surprisng turn is Rose McGowan's contribution on Superfabulous which turns in a semi-retro electronic song.

The mood changes on Dark Heart Drowning where extensive production takes a back seat to lush and ambient sounds. Singled out tracks include The Great Escape, Communicate and the bittersweet The Only Change Is Constant which also concludes the album.

WIth BT's recent contributions on pop records, his own album has also, no doubt, veered towards the sounds of pop but not sacrificing all the elements that brought BT to where he is today.

this album faded real quick for me. i liked it at first, i probably listened to it two-three times all the way thorugh. then each time i put it on it got shorter, leaving out another track each time. i certainly respect brian transeau for what he is doing, he has definitely created a beautiful masterpiece that seems to effortless glide from genre to genre, mixing all the live elements into his own distinct sonic aesthetic, but it just does not appeal to my taste at all. bt has always veered towards the overly-sunny and dreamy new age stuff, but he has always managed to contain it within a tasteful context of solid beats and interesting sounds that results in a compellingly atmospheric sound. ESCM had a thick bump to it, a very chunky analog sound, and the new agey washes of piano and string arrangements gave the rough rhythms of the songs a euphoric atmosphere. MISL was of course nasty breaks straight through pretty much, in fact almost like a darker version of this album. The toying with rock, the pristine digital production, the return to songwriting, etc etc. ET however, ditches the bump of ESCM and punk rock edge of MISL. the songs are mostly sugary and airy and all about love and joy and passion. bt has adopted a distinct boy band timbre to his voice since MISL (due to his vocal training no doubt), when he sounded more like he was just belting it out. this strips even a hard rockin song like Circles of its edge for me, making it a g-rated, everyone-is-happy pop rock tune for disney radio. the trance cuts are both a return to the days of ima and a dive into the world of cornballery. paris (possibly my favorite cut on the album) and force of gravity are very open and spacey tracks in tradition of Nocturnal Transmission and those other Ima anthems, but at the same time the abstractness of those compositions is gone. instead of evolving a soundscape, on ET everything is composed in a very standard pop-music format, with verses and choruses, builds and breakdowns, all very standard and direct. i'm not sure what point, if any, i'm trying to make, but if i did try and make one, it would be this: this is a POP album. no doubt about it. it is filled with light, catchy melodies, direct song structures, dancey beats, all the spontanaeity, freshness, and rebellion of earlier bt albums is greatly diminished in favor of passionate ballads and crooning about.. whatever. i just don't dig that stuff and hence cannot manage to listen to this whole album, it just irritates me. that having been said, this record is still no less of a masterpiece, even if it is a masterpiece of cheesy pop music. i don't think anyone can equal bt's skill in the studio, and certainly no one has pulled off such a unique and well-orchestrated blend of pop, rock, and dance music, electronics and live instruments before. i just wish it wasnt so gosh darn sappy.

as a closing comment, for a general idea of what this album contains, look at the cover photo.