Perdition City [Enhanced, Import]

Ulver | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 28, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Import
• Label: MSI:JESTER RECORDINGS
• ASIN: B00005MKX9
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,245 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music To An Interior Film, January 27, 2003

By 

IcemanJ (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Perdition City (Audio CD)

This is probably the best electronic based album I've heard. No cheesy steady beats and barely-changing extremely repetitive tones present in so much techno/trance stuff today. But if you're reading this chances are you aren't one who's into that. While this certainly isn't Ulver's most experimental, (That goes to "Themes from William Blake's...") it remains their most solid work to date. This is much different from "Themes" Very melodic and calm songs, but not too calm to be labeled "Ambiant" like some of their other releases. Even though some parts are ambiant. There is a lot of electonic rhythms but they are never repetitive.

The CD kicks off with "Lost in Moments" a nice beat which suddenly turns into a soft piano and saxophone harmony and keeps switching and mixing back and forth. When you hear the word Saxophone you might think it is incredibly cheesy, but Ulver know how to make it anything except that. This song also has some vocals, most of them near the end. They aren't very common, probably half the songs have vocals.

Most songs have piano, a lot of electronic beats and a significant amount of real drumming, and a lot of melodic and not-so-melodic electronic sounds that drift in and out and in between the songs. Sometimes real guitars are used too. Some parts are just so groovy you cant help but tap your fingers... especially the last minute or so of "Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses." Songs change a lot and keep flowing brilliantly and most songs have an awesome climax somewhere.

Some songs are a bit different. "We are the Dead" is a very eerie and slow with Garm whispering into your ear overlapping the subtle distorted radio frequencies. Following that is "Dead City Centres," the first part is the most ambiant on the CD with high frequency beeps and distant sounds. The second half is a freaky narration of some sort with crazy saxophones... kind of hard to explain, then fades out into a beautiful uplifting piano melody for a few seconds. The last song, "Nowhere/Catastrophe" is where the most vocals are found.

While listening to this I always picture walking around in a big city with lots of neon lights at night. I should actually try to do that sometime, but I'd probably look like a moron and start taking steps in synch with the rhythm. I think of going into subways, glass buildings, all sorts of things. The photos inside kind of help that imagery along.

This album probably makes the best introduction to Ulver's electronic works. It is experimental in its own way but not compared to a lot of their other stuff, and shouldnt be that hard if you have an open mind...

For my conclusion I will quote the back of the cd case. "This is music for the stations before and after sleep. Headphones and darkness recommended." This is very true, if you listen to it with these two conditions it is more worthwhile.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A midsummer's night rain., September 24, 2006

By 

Raymond Mode (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perdition City (Audio CD)

One night two summer's ago I wanted to go for a ride in the middle of the night. It was raining and that was perfect. I grabbed Perdition City. I turned my car on and put the album in. I left. I drove around downtown and let the rain accumulate before wiping it away with my wipers each time and with the music playing it gave it this sort of surreal feel. I didn't feel like I was apart of the world. It was odd. The lights had a different meaning as they were skewed both by the droplets of water on my windows, but also with my aural senses. It was a night I won't soon forget. I drove around and around and around, the greens the reds the yellows all filtering in so bright so alive. Ulver _Perdition City_ is the album to listen to while driving on a rainy night. It's epic and dark. Evil and uplifting. Free and concise. Everything is meticulously placed yet not forced. Imaginative. This is a masterpiece of modern music and highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To boldly go where other bands should go too, February 18, 2003

By 

Takis Tz. (InYourHead) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perdition City (Audio CD)

Treading new ground in new music is like a dark room. The dark room is always there. You either open the door and move on in or you dont. There's no two ways about it. If the dark room scares you or intimidates you you wont discover what might be in it.
Ulver have gone in.
What have they found? They've found "more" music. Huh? What's that? It's what i said: more music.
While people are desperately (and increasingly) looking into the electronic scene to find some musical oxygen to breathe they tend to look into the wrong places. Massive Attack. Dj Krush. Bohren and the Club of Gore. But they miss out on people like Ulver.
"Perdition" is nothing short of a monumental album. It doesnt matter how "experienced" your ears are with music and it doesnt matter how perceptive you are or openminded. You will find that listening to this album will take a while for it to reveal to you all its secrets and all its angles. It's that rich. The catch? It's rich while being subtle.
Ulver dont shove their sounds down anybody's throats by being pompous or overproduced. When they used effects it's not because they're trying to disguise the nakedness of their music but to enhance it. When they use vocals it's not because they "have to" but to add mystification. And when they make their choices on instruments it's not based on what's "acceptable" but on what serves their puprose.
I've bought this album some months now and i'm still discovering it. I'm thinking that it could very well be one of the most undiscovered LPs of the pst 5 years if the term "most undiscovered" is accurate.
How is it then musically: well, it's one of those where it may be vain to try and describe it in words. It doesnt have any orthodoxy about it. It moves effortlessly like water from one scape to another. It's elecronic but it has classical elements. It's that but it's experimental. It's experimental but also mental. It's mental but also accesible if you let access you.
And once you allow it to access you you are bound to treasure it.