Lushlife

Bowery Electric | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 22, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Beggars Banquet Intl
• ASIN: B00003CM0F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,344 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bowery Electric's Lushlife is a piece of work that's sumptuous in its minimalism. As with their previous album, Beat, the collective elements cut a forlorn musical figure yet still produce melodies that are surprisingly bright in their lullaby tone. The first track, "Floating World," opens with rainfall and is slowly overtaken by a lithe hip-hop beat that continues unbroken, melting perfectly into the next song. Using soft, woeful samples and short, circling bass lines, the group builds an almost palpable sense of urban sadness, invoking the haunted, rainy Manhattan that surrounded them during the recording of this album. Martha Schwendener's vocals, although engaging, affect their power through hypnotic repetition. As the reversed tape loops and final scattered beats of the last track fade out, Lushlife proves an apt title for the album's musical cosmos. --Aaron Kirschnick

Product Description

Takes On More Computer Based,Electronic Sound,Although The Main Beats Are Hip Hop. Crisp Deep Beats Between Samples & Live Instruments.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a soundtrack for breaking up, November 15, 2000

By 

bowery boy (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lushlife (Audio CD)

Sure this is trip hop. Sure it's been done before. Sure BE is following in the footsteps of pioneers Massive Attack and Portishead. But at least they're damn good at it. I've been a fan of trip hop since I heard blue lines from massive attack and I've heard many bad imitations since then, but with BE I was impressed from begining to end. I've never heard of them until I checked out their CD at a listening station and the moment the first track started, washing over me in waves and I noticed the subtle sample from Siouxsie and the Banshees'"Trust In Me", I fell in love. The beats aren't as bass oriented as most trip hop and they employ lots of strings but it works. "lushlife", the title track is my fave. The bass line is steady and deep, the "do do do dos" of the chorus is fantastic and the lyrics, a somber story of a woman regretting meeting a man, is profoundly touching. I listened to this CD for weeks on end after breaking up with my boyfriend. It was a perfect soundtrack for the emotions I was going through. the tracks vary from instrumentals to lush vocals.Nothing really danceable but very very listenable. I highly reccomend it for fans of the trip hop genre.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Than You've Heard, March 20, 2000

By 

John D. Pride (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lushlife (Audio CD)

If you are unfamiliar with Bowery Electric, ignore the mediocre reviews from die-hard fans. Yes, the sound is more mature, fully fleshed out and, well, lush. However, at least in my book, this is a positive move for this band, given their ethereal, semi-gothic mix of airy vocals and contemporary rythyms (think Portishead without the annoying parts, Cocteau Twins circa 2000 with trip-hop beats).To my taste, this is a wonderful CD, and a more enjoyable listening experience than their previous outings.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful new beats, March 24, 2000

By 

Shawn S. Delaney (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lushlife (Audio CD)

As a long time BE fan, I find their latest work to be a logical and gorgeous epiphane in the progression of their sound. Starting out as an admittedly great guitar-drony band, they've gradually moved away from guitar and into the electro-beat oriented material of "Lushlife". If you aren't put off by the lack of guitar, you should love this album. I'm one of the few who were bored by their 1996 album "Beat"...this is what that album could have been. I'm just glad they found it now. The sound may seem familiar if you are into similar bands such as Laika or Hooverphonic, and if you are you can't go wrong here.