Customer Reviews

Instrumentals

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

 

 

This vinyl only album is finally being released on CD. It's too bad if you don't have the vinyl b/c all the crackles and pops from over-play really add to the sound.:). What makes this album so good is that it is short (~40mins) and the selection of material is perfect. There is no filler, only perfect transitions--which is not always true with other MoM albums. It swirls from melody to bubbly ambience to white noise....then back again. something else about this album is that it keeps it's laid back ambient mood throughout and there are no hyperkinetic tracks here. you really feel as if you are immersed in warm alien amniotic fluid. If nothing else the aptly titled possibly best MoM song, "chromantic" is worth the purchase of the album.

Stylistically INSTRUMENTALS is somewhere between the techno goofiness of AUTODITAKER or IORTA TAHITI and the ambient soundscapes of GLAM. It contains the kind of distorted sounds that any MoM fan will be familiar with. MoM dosen't forget to include the one ingredient missing from most music made by "electronica" acts: melody and warmth. "Chromantic" (I really dig MoM's song titles) is a great example of the band's ear for lush melody without sacrificing abstractness. Only on the sparse "1001" does the mood turn somber; with its odd, scratchy trumpet soloing and skittish piano key loop. "Auto Orchestra" opens the music with an abstract cut-&-paste sound collage. "Owai" is the CD's only hyber/bouncy track. The rest of the tracks further reaffirms MoM's genius. The funny-looking cartoon characters found on the packaging is a great visual compliment to the music.

this cd defies categorization.its one part dub,one part ambient,and another techno.mix them together and you have perfect ear candy.put on some headphones and prepare to get lost.and yes the album cover art is a great companion.i love this cd.

"Instrumentals" is a very good and interesting electronica album, but I don't think it quite makes the leap to a "classic" status. It simply doesn't have enough of a "wow" factor or, really, any good enough songs to warrant this. With these minor grievances aside, however, electronica fans will probably like this a heck of a lot. It's a very ambient album most of the time with lots of electronic "texture", and I think most people will like the track "Chronomantic". Lots of weird and interesting sounds here that I can't describe at all. This is essentially only for electronica fans, and they'll most certainly find this interesting. Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
"Chromantic"
the rest are good too, but that's the most accessible tune here

When I first put this CD in a week ago and gave it its first spin around the player, my girlfriend (who usually isn't the biggest fan of my wierder electronica) said, "Oh, they are what Autechre want to be! Or maybe just what I want Autechre to be..." And while it is definitely true that Autechre are what they are, this album is fairly reminiscent, in all the best ways, and not at all in a derivative sense. Maybe I'd be willing to call it "Autechre Lite," or at least "Autechre-with-some-of-the-rougher-edges-off."

I've never owned a Mouse on Mars album before but I'm sure that I will own many more in the near future. This is great stuff lovely, complex, and melodic ambient with soft, staticy beats and odd tones, an album to dream by.

Mouse on Mars' masterpiece was finally released after years of being lost somewhere in the ignorance of record label executives. What else is new? The good news is that Instrumentals could have been released in 1980 or 3487 and it wouldn't have made any difference. The german combo are at their very best offering music that defies the concept of gender. With sublime melodies and subtle white noise interleaving the subdued tempos and mindscapes Mouse on Mars took me to an altered space where the notion of time disappears. Great music without boundaries.