- Buy a CD or a vinyl record, get a $1 Amazon MP3 Credit. Limit one promotional credit per customer. Here's how (restrictions apply)
- Includes FREE MP3 version of this album Here's how (restrictions apply)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Track Listings
Editorial Reviews
2010 two CD release. Given his enviable resume and illustrious 15+ year career, it is difficult to imagine that platinum-selling artist, visionary producer, film composer and technologist BT may only now be beginning to create the best work of his career. With his double-disc opus, These Hopeful Machines, BT definitively weaves both the technical prowess and compositional mastery that reminds us all why he's the composer that all other composers and producers study. As with previous albums, These Hopeful Machines is rife with vocal collaborations that expose BT's influences and bend them toward his unique perceptions of song structure and sonic parity. BT has become one of the most revolutionary artists and sought after producers on the scene.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
84 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A few years back, I did a review of BT's "Movement In Still Life", an album that changed the way I looked at dance music. After the decent, yet stutter-step that was Emotional Technology, and the beautiful, yet too ambient for my taste "This Binary Universe", today I am happy to return to Amazon to say that BT's latest offering, "These Hopeful Machines", is an album that once again changes the way I look at dance music, a double-album where I don't even care what the names of each song are or where the skip button is located, because it flows so beautifully well.
Forget your radio-cheese pop or your repetitive club-dance music. THIS is the future right here. Brian Transeau is so ahead of his time that it's ridiculous. This is not a person who goes loop-nuts with synths and drum machines, or relies lazily on his computer to do all the work for him. This album has been composed with TLC and it shows. You can truly feel BT's vision come to life, almost as if every minute detail was meticulously planned and executed precisely according to his vision. Nothing feels "thrown in" for the sake of it, and even at 2 hours long, you'll still be hearing new effects and tricks. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the music is very melodic, uplifting and fresh throughout. THIS is what feel-good music should be, and I feel truly priveleged to have seen a glimpse of the future of music. Hopefully the next generation will see the impact BT has left on electronic music as a whole, because as it's always stood, IMO, the man just does not get nearly enough credit in this oversaturated industry. Marvelous album - thank you, BT!
Forget your radio-cheese pop or your repetitive club-dance music. THIS is the future right here. Brian Transeau is so ahead of his time that it's ridiculous. This is not a person who goes loop-nuts with synths and drum machines, or relies lazily on his computer to do all the work for him. This album has been composed with TLC and it shows. You can truly feel BT's vision come to life, almost as if every minute detail was meticulously planned and executed precisely according to his vision. Nothing feels "thrown in" for the sake of it, and even at 2 hours long, you'll still be hearing new effects and tricks. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the music is very melodic, uplifting and fresh throughout. THIS is what feel-good music should be, and I feel truly priveleged to have seen a glimpse of the future of music. Hopefully the next generation will see the impact BT has left on electronic music as a whole, because as it's always stood, IMO, the man just does not get nearly enough credit in this oversaturated industry. Marvelous album - thank you, BT!
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
... because it means no other artist or album after this will ever live up to my expectations again.
I didn't think he could do it ... after four years, I thought BT had gone to live in a hermitage somewhere to contemplate the wonderful accomplishments of his life, but it turns out, he was working on this album. I feel a little ashamed to be calling this an "album" ... it's not an album, it's an experience. It encompasses everything music should encompass. It's orchestral, lyrical, celebratory ... it's about love, heartache, inner peace, and every other emotion you could possibly imagine. It's tough to explain exactly what I feel when I listen to BT, because his music envelops all of your senses in a bubble of cosmic waves and euphoria. BT's music DOES something to your brain waves and the world just seems a little bit clearer. 'These Hopeful Machines' is no exception to that.
Protip: Don't listen to this album (or really, any of Brian's music) on your laptop speakers. The music should truly be experienced in all of its glory ... use a good pair of headphones or stereo speakers.
I didn't think he could do it ... after four years, I thought BT had gone to live in a hermitage somewhere to contemplate the wonderful accomplishments of his life, but it turns out, he was working on this album. I feel a little ashamed to be calling this an "album" ... it's not an album, it's an experience. It encompasses everything music should encompass. It's orchestral, lyrical, celebratory ... it's about love, heartache, inner peace, and every other emotion you could possibly imagine. It's tough to explain exactly what I feel when I listen to BT, because his music envelops all of your senses in a bubble of cosmic waves and euphoria. BT's music DOES something to your brain waves and the world just seems a little bit clearer. 'These Hopeful Machines' is no exception to that.
Protip: Don't listen to this album (or really, any of Brian's music) on your laptop speakers. The music should truly be experienced in all of its glory ... use a good pair of headphones or stereo speakers.
29 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By Adam Jackson
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brian delivered some amazing electronic albums in the late 90s and in the early 2000s. Then, in 2003, Emotional Technology, Movement in Still Life and This Binary Universe took a new approach to electronic music and the clubs didn't quite soak it up.
For good reason. Personally, I think those albums are fantastic but they were experimental, new and broke out of the traditional trance mold.
As I attended BT's shows and started hearing singles from the upcoming album, These Hopeful Machines, it was clear that Brian was bringing things back to basics but I wasn't quite sure how he would deliver...
These Hopeful Machines is a new era in electronic music. Brian has taken every phenomenal aspect of his entire catalog and applied it to this album.
1. The vocals, pop appeal and ballad level lyrics that we love in the album, Emotional Technology
2. The stutter edit effects that made up This Binary Universe
3. The build up and release that we danced to on IMA and ESCM.
4. The guitar and "live" feeling that Movement in Still Life" gave us
Brian took these aspects and modernized it all for this new decade and its the perfect dance album for 2010!
My favorite tracks: (in order)
Suddenly
Emergency
A Million Stars
The Unbreakable
Brian also teamed up with some amazing DJs to deliver fantastic remixes that you can buy as a seperate digital album on iTunes.
BT hit a home run! I've listened to the album 6 times today and will listen to it 20 more times before the week is over. I'm in love and will have a hard time going back to his old albums because everything I loved about those records are in These Hopeful Machines.
For good reason. Personally, I think those albums are fantastic but they were experimental, new and broke out of the traditional trance mold.
As I attended BT's shows and started hearing singles from the upcoming album, These Hopeful Machines, it was clear that Brian was bringing things back to basics but I wasn't quite sure how he would deliver...
These Hopeful Machines is a new era in electronic music. Brian has taken every phenomenal aspect of his entire catalog and applied it to this album.
1. The vocals, pop appeal and ballad level lyrics that we love in the album, Emotional Technology
2. The stutter edit effects that made up This Binary Universe
3. The build up and release that we danced to on IMA and ESCM.
4. The guitar and "live" feeling that Movement in Still Life" gave us
Brian took these aspects and modernized it all for this new decade and its the perfect dance album for 2010!
My favorite tracks: (in order)
Suddenly
Emergency
A Million Stars
The Unbreakable
Brian also teamed up with some amazing DJs to deliver fantastic remixes that you can buy as a seperate digital album on iTunes.
BT hit a home run! I've listened to the album 6 times today and will listen to it 20 more times before the week is over. I'm in love and will have a hard time going back to his old albums because everything I loved about those records are in These Hopeful Machines.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aswesome!
Awesome just doesnt do enough to describe the fantastic experience the album takes you on. this is genius production, and sound engineering at ts best, I have been an avid follower... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Spellbound
2.0 out of 5 stars
not as good as the first album
bought this after a friend said i might like it. i'd already listened to the first album a bunch and thought it was great, but this had a totally different sound (not in a great... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars
OUTSTANDING ALBUM! I'M GLAD I DISCOVERED IT! 'UNBREAKABLE' IS...
One of the most amazing albums I've ever heard. I started with the track, 'Unbreakable', because I'm a huge fan of Rob Dickinson's, and I fell in love with the song INSTANTLY. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Robert Oliver
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Love Letter to Electronic Music
BT is not an electronic producer. He's a composer, a music writer. While many electronic dance producers around the world like Above & Beyond and Armin Van Buuren know a thing or... Read more
Published 5 months ago by The Typer
5.0 out of 5 stars
I really love this one!
I am a huge fan of Bt's work over the last ten years or so, and this does not disappoint.
I am one of the few people on the planet still buying CDs in 2012. Read more
I am one of the few people on the planet still buying CDs in 2012. Read more
Published 7 months ago by HeatherinOhio
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning emotional journey
This masterpiece stirs an amazing array of emotions, strong enough to induce tears. The most evolved BT album yet. Buy it.
Published 12 months ago by B. Skinner
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMAZING Album!
First off, whoever decided BT didn't deserve a Grammy (he was nominated but didn't win) for this album should be fired from the music business simply because he or she does NOT... Read more
Published 13 months ago by CaliHeat
5.0 out of 5 stars
These (amazing) Hopeful Machines
I'd like to start by saying that I own every single album and single release that BT has ever put out there. He's my favorite producer ever. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Travis Slavin
1.0 out of 5 stars
50% off (literally only got half the product , jerks)
Order a CD set with 2 CD's.. Only got one of those CD's after waiting forever for it to ship which is no big deal. This is the first time I've ever written a review on Amazon . Read more
Published 16 months ago by john
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Stunning
These Hopeful Machines is an awe-inspiring collection of BT's work. Rose of Jericho, Le Nocturne de Lumière, The Emergency and Suddenly are some of the great tracks on this... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Parker Young
