Iem [Import]

Incredible Expanding Mindfuck | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Deler
• ASIN: B00000JO7V
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #585,139 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Gospel According To The I E M

2. The Last Will And Testament Of Emma Peel

3. Fie Kesh

4. Deafman

5. Headphone Dust

Editorial Reviews

Experimental side project by members of Porcupine Tree. 5 tracks using mellotron, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, generator, tables, drum kit, bell tree, shaker, mouth, bass guitar, piano, tamboura, gong, tape recorder, sampler and of course sewi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously unique and a bit bizarre., October 11, 2002

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iem (Audio CD)

Everything about this album is pretty weird. Looking through the liner notes when I first got the album, I thought, "Ehh???" There are no production credits, no pictures of the musician(s) (but lots of pictures of ugly hick families), and the only text is two random blurbs ("Trams should be placed under surveillance" and "Tomorrow we are leaving for the mountains" - huh). Best of all, the sewing machine is listed as an instrument. HOORJ. All this loses some of its weird mystique when you know who is behind the project (and that would be mastermind Steven Wilson).

The meat of the album, -- the indefinable music -- makes _I.E.M._ an odd experience for sure. Beyond the strangeness of the overall sound, Wilson's strength in creating atmosphere and narcotic soundscapes is second to none, while still avoiding the "muzak trap." The coupling of thumping drums and bass with eerie, wailing synthesizers and guitars on the opening track, "The Gospel According to I.E.M.", is amusingly strange by itself. "The Last Will and Testament of Emma Peel" is one part nightmarish ambiance and another part vague waves of spacey synthesized weirdness, and yet another part the dispirited moaning of a mellotron. "Fie Kesh" is brilliantly hot & humid, with exotic instruments like tablas and tambouras (a Turkish guitar, I think) to enhance its vibe. The odd-time drums of "Deafman" are strange when set against the sunlit guitar lines and distant vocals, but the entirety of the song is pretty catchy because it feels joyful somehow. The final track, "Headphone Dust", is probably the right way to end an album like this - dreamy, sublime, and wistful.

But hey, if the music is of no interest to you, you should still buy it just because the name is so swank.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could this be the great lost Neu! album?, December 15, 2005

By 

spiral_mind (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iem (Audio CD)

Well, maybe not, but if you're looking for some inventive weirdness in a similar vein to Krautrock, then the self-titled work from IEM will help fill the gap delightfully. This is the brainchild of Steven Wilson, who doesn't exactly have a direct connection with the likes of Neu! or Can, but has an uncanny talent for absorbing sounds & influences and mixing them into something that comes out sounding like anything but a ripoff. IEM is an outlet for his solo instrumental/experimental stuff; this disc explores the mystical groove sound of those bands I just mentioned with sweet-toned guitars, clockwork drums, worldly percussion, synth, organ and sitar. It may sound like music directed solely at middle-aged record-store owners who thrive on boggling their customers' minds with stuff nobody's ever heard of, but this is really a treat for anyone with an open mind.

As if that wasn't good enough, the disc just got an expanded reissuing this year (I'm putting this review under the older edition because Amazon doesn't seem to have the new one). The added material is two versions of the EP track "An Escalator to Xmas," the regular 10-minute piece and a 14-minute 'expanded mix' that I find much more appealing (probably because it doesn't have any children's voices). In either case it's a great complement to the original album - it's more madly addicting grooves and textures, spiced up with tabla and jungle percussion under the sunny synths & guitars.

IEM can be called a lot of things, but never boring or ordinary (as if it could be with a name like this). You don't necessarily have to be a Wilson fan already to enjoy this, but it does require a taste for the bizarre. And preferably a good pair of headphones.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very Deep, Explorative Project by Mr. Steven Wilson, December 5, 2005

By 

Rye Guy "The Music Addict" (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iem (Audio CD)

Okay, this album is NOT a necessity. However, that doesn't mean it's a bad album. It's very good if you're a die-hard Steven Wilson fan (like myself), and you want to hear music and soundscape created in the darkest corners of his genius mind. It's nothing like Wilson's other projects (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, No Man, etc) because it is all Steven Wilson, no one else. The closest thing it comes to is Bass Communion, but yet it differs. It is mainly samples, keyboards, drums, guitar, and bass. No vocals on the entire album, but there is dialouge in some of the samples.

I enjoy this CD a lot, but it's most enjoyable when I listen to it from start to finish. It's the type of music that sets me in a trance and carries me off into a world of catchy grooves, spacey sounds, and improvised-sounding guitar by the man himself, Mr. Steven Wilson.

Again, it's good, but because it's so hard to come across, I only recommend it to those who truly adore Wilson's music.