Customer Reviews

This Binary Universe (W/Dvd) (Dts)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you come into This Binary Universe expecting a rehash of the utterly disappointing, yet mainstream friendly Emotional Technology, you're going to be disappointed. If all you want is generic trance and electronic-pop music, then look elsewhere.

Serious music fans, however, owe it to themselves to pick up BT's latest and greatest CD. Written mostly as a collection of lullabies for his daughter, Kaia, I can only describe it as majestic, unsurpassed beauty in musical form.

The sticker on the CD case contains the following quote:
"...it could well be studied as the first major electronic work of the new Millennium. It's that good.", Stephen Fortner, Keyboard Magazine

Stephen Fortner is not lying.

This record is a work of art. It's a masterpiece. It's a gift to everyone from one of the most innovative musicians working today and I feel blessed to have heard it and being allowed to share in something so obviously personal.

Never before has a record taken me through such a range of emotions; from pure elation and happiness, to deep, reflective sadness. It's the type of record that can give you hope - it's that remarkable.

"1.618" is so absurdly beautiful it doesn't seem like something that could even be created by a simple human being. "See You On The Other Side" is melancholy, yet so full of hope. The grand scope of "The Anhtkythera Mechanism" is nothing short of mindblowing, but it was the last track on the album that did it.

It was the first song to ever make me weep.

"Good Morning Kaia" is the single most beautiful piece of music I have ever experienced in all the years I have been alive. The accompanying video on the DVD features video footage and still pictures of BT and his daughter together and is so touching, so personal, that only the most jaded individual would find it difficult not to cry as they watch the unadulterated and unconditional love of a father for his daughter. As the pictures and private film rolls by, a message from father to daughter scrolls across the screen. Set to the music, it will move anyone with a heart and soul to tears, and parents themselves should keep a box of tissues handy.

In fact, the real treat of this album IS the DVD, not for the videos for each song. Sure, they're neat and filled with some beautiful and surrealistic CG imagery, but it's the DTS surround sound mix found on the DVD that is worth the extra cash. After hearing the 5.1 mix of the record, it almost seems unfair to listen to the 2-channel stereo recording on the CD.

This record, particularly the surround sound mix, pushes the boundaries of electronic music, yet it still retains much of that trademark BT sound with loads of stutters and filters. Yes, it's downtempo, but it's not a completely new direction for him. Anyone familiar with his film scores may find it somewhat comparable to his score for the film Monster. Personally, I'd rather see BT grow as an artist than make another record like Emotional Technology, which was a severe letdown after the brilliance of Movement In Still Life (by which I refer to the European version, not the cannibalized U.S. release).

I can only thank Mr. Brian Transeau for sharing this amazing work with us all and urge everybody with an open mind and an appreciation for music to purchase This Binary Universe.

I'll say right off the bat that I'm sure there will be people who purchase this album thinking it is a lot like his previous releases. I'm here to let you know that it isn't anything like those works in terms of feel, tempo, etc. This release from BT has more of an electronic-melodic-jazzy-classical-ambient-minimal feel to it. The songs range around 10 minutes in length so the 30 second clips don't really give you much to get an idea of what this album has to offer.

If you want a dance album then I would say that you would want to hold off until BT releases his next work. Apparently, he has recorded (other work too more than likely) with DJ Tiesto (Brian sings on a track called "Break My Fall"). I believe he's recording a follow up to his "Emotional Technology" album as well, which he's pretty far into. This is how I understand his current project schedule based off what I've read. I'm not sure what the content will be overall with that release. Regardless, to the people who are wondering when he'll release something dance orientated... its coming.

So, back to the album... BT is a producer at heart so he's showing his versatility even more with this album. If you are familiar his previous works then you'll know that he's also done film scores (Stealth, The Fast and the Furious, Monster, etc.) and worked with other artists as well such as Peter Gabriel or The Roots. This CD touches more on his ambient-melodic side and he puts all that he's known/learned over the years into use. This music is like a journey you go on through a lot of places and feelings before getting back to where you were originally. Each track has a different feel to it so nothing really sounds like the previous track. As you listen to it, I'm sure people will find something that they didn't notice before... it's that deep.

The DTS 5.1 recording adds so much to the experience that if you want to truly get everything out of it then I suggest you play it on a system that supports that. With the CD, you also get a DVD that has videos on it to accompany the tracks. That was an excellent treat to compliment the music. I know a lot of people like to do a breakdown by track but I realized that you need to listen to this on your own to make decisions of that nature. There are lots of things I can say about each individual track but I'd just go on and on. Personally, my favorite track was "1.618" but that was a hard choice to come by.

Ultimately, if you want to witness some excellent versatility in BT's music catalog then this is a really great example of it. This is artistry for music that you have to really sit down and put some time away to just listen. It isn't something you can just listen to on the fly and truly understand what's going on. I've been listening to it most of the time since yesterday before typing this. People who will be expecting a dance album will be disappointed but give it a listen because this is something very special. It is an excellent piece of work and I am glad to have experienced this.

BT or Brian Transeau is a longtime dance music artist by now, He released "IMA" in 1995 and the big break "ESCM" 2 years later that was a mix between ambient and commerical eletro-house and techno-pop. "Flaming June" for example was a club hit. By the years things have changed a little though, "Emotional Technology" was in a more progressive direction and the soundtrack to Charlize Theron's film "Monster" was ambient film music. With highly anticipated "The Binary Universe" there is only 7 songs but they all are long and meliodic ambient. For those of you that wanted another highly accessable and commercial "Flaming June" you will get dissapointed, this album is non-commercial, Kind of like Moby's last one, but BT is superior to Moby when it comes to release dreamy and meliodic ambient music, but For those of you that own "ESCM" and liked songs like "Orbitus Terranum", you are gonna love this album. "Binary Universe" is very exprimental, with more cinemographic sounds that could have been from another soundtrack. It's also exprimental, in the sense that loads of diffrent sounds are squezed into the diffrent songs, kind of like Avant-Garde Jazz or early Pink Floyd that squezed several pieces of songs into every number. Infact there is lots of melancholy jazz on this album, electro, orchestral and classic pieces. It's not very accesable, in the sense that none of the songs are made for the charts and all of the songs are long and often change rhythm or melody through the song. BT is just following his heart, exprimenting further and "going back to his roots" with some classical music which he played as a kid. I think it's too difficult to go into song by song, it's something you have to experience by yourself while listening to them, cause like I mentioned all songs goes in diffrent musical pieces and they are hard to comment, but most are classic half slow ambient (with diffrent arrangements) the "The Antikythera Mechanism" however sounds like the soundtrack to a Isaac Asimov science fiction film, it's futuristic, robotic and with brilliant orchestral work. Just liste to this album in patience and you'll find the goodies. Maybe you're Stressed after a long day at work?, Relax, turn the lights off, and turn on this album. There are also DVD versions included of all of the songs. Original? You bet.

I have to say, this is one of the most astonishing and inspirational pieces of music I have ever heard. BT has always been a musical genius, in my opinion, and this album is definitive proof. His other works are definately masters of the trance and house genre, but what BT does on "TBU" is show everything he as learned since he was an infant playing the piano to the more recent works and has created a musical achievement. I can't remember the last piece of music that blended new age classical pieces and ambient that had this much of an effect on me (the closest I can think of is some songs from Moby's "Play"). Easily one of the best albums of 2006, and quite possibly ever.

I've only been through one serious listening session so far, but I think I'm going to end up rating this as the best BT yet. It's not the "Party BT" of some of his earlier works, but I'm liking where he's going and I look forward to more. It's music to be studied.

Also, I'm not sure if there are multiple pressings / releases of the DVD, but I cannot duplicate the Mac problems reported earlier. The DVD plays fine on my Apple PowerBook G4 running OS X 10.4.7 and the full DTS playback through my Theta Digital gear is simply stunning.

I bought this based on the reviews. I know a little of BT and his trance days but kinda figured this wasn't that. So I took a gamble. It is one of the most unique pieces of music I've heard in a while. I'm a big electronica/techno fan and it is really hard to find anything that truly stands out from the din.

So I was sick several days ago, the kind of sick (and caffeine withdrawal) where most of the day is sleep. So I put the DVD on and got about half way through the first song and was lulled to sleep not, mind you, in a dullsville kind of way, but in a lulling, peaceful kind of drift. As the morning rolled on I would drift in and out, catching bits and pieces of various songs on this album. I found it entering my dreams. And the visuals are trippy enough to tweak the brain a little but not so much that in a year or two they will look like tired old computer graphics. The whole package really made for a truly peaceful morning.

As I've since listened to this awake and alert I've realized that this is a revolutionary work. It's got electronic sound throughout, with beeps and blips and the sounds of glitch, but woven in throughout are guitars, piano and a symphonic sound to the whole work. Trance this isn't. What it is is beautiful. It's hard to say that about electronic music sometimes but even my wife, who thinks my musical taste is, to put it kindly, weird, was entranced and I found her sitting by my side that morning watching along with me.

Dreamy, beautiful, mesmerizing. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

I had the great pleasure of sitting in a dingy, downtown Seattle theater with BT not more than five days ago, as he provided the public with his first 'official' screening of This Binary Universe. I admit, I entered the cinema with the expectation of hearing a more progressive, edgy derviative of Emotional Technology, with perhaps some subtle inserts from his extensive scoring work...

Instead, what BT has created with TBU is a work reflective of years upon years of true artistry -- each new replay of the seven tracks on this compilation (and trust me, it's been on repeat for five days solid!), I become more dumbfounded by his acumen for musicology -- a characteristic that really has been lost in a time where the words 'musician' and 'performer' are painfully misconstrued.

I debated about whether or not this -- well, this masterpiece of electronic symphony -- deserved a five-star rating; after all, I'm the first one jumping to turn up the volume when 'Mercury and Solace' crosses my aural path! I imagine I had a look of bemusement on my face during the screening, admittedly, as my mind processed both the sheer magnitude of what I was hearing AND my disappointment with hearing none of Jan Johnston's ethereal voice! However, what Brian attempts to accomplish with TBU is done flawlessly, and I'm not even speaking about the lush visual effects which complement the audio. If BT's work is studied in the near future, or decades from now, this will be the piece of art, I believe, which will again refresh his status as a pioneer of his craft, in the trace, electronic, and perhaps even classical-jazz fusion, genre. Bravo, Mr. Transeau.

I have always admired BT for his sound creation and production skills, however I have not always liked his more pop-like arrangements. This is simply an opinion, however, and I have greatly enjoyed this latest album. It is definately a benefit to have BT with us to provide us with whatever music he decides to provide us with.

Unfortunately, the DVD has some kind of Copy-protection on it that's so severe it requires a proprietary player if the DVD is to be watched on a computer. As of this writing, it is not compatible with my new MacBook. My windows machine playes it thru some app called "CyberDVD".

Music like this encapsulates a beautiful vision of the future. It's too bad that the company responsible for pressing the CD/DVD decided to go a lazy route to enforce some kind of useless copy protection, preventing it from it's complete vision. Anyone who is experienced will know how to break the copy protection anyways, but the rest of us who just want to enjoy this music with the accompanying video on our laptops have to pay for that laziness.

All being said, the music is wonderful, the mechanical format needs improvement. For the money, the music alone is worth twice the price of this CD.

It's not often that you buy a set of music and are asked to do anything but listen to it. This Binary Universe asks so much more of you.

First, you have to forget everything you know about BT. Throughout this CD, you will have a difficult time recognizing anything you have come to love about BT and his style.

Second, and even more demanding of the listener, you have to forget about what you know about the genres of music that people will try to place this work into. This is something entirely new. Nobody has done this before, and no one is even thinking about doing it now.

For these reasons, you will be challenged when you listen to this CD. You will be asked to do more than use your ears. You may find yourself actually trying to "look" at what you're hearing.

I believe that BT has a point of view that very few people on earth share. You all know his story- that he was a musical prodigy as a toddler. I think once a century someone comes along who has the ability to change the way the world experiences an artform. BT is quietly changing what music is. Should he ever attain any kind of mass popularity, the musical explosion that will follow will be something to behold.

Not much else to say about the music itself from all of the other wonderful reviews below, but I will say that the music does stand alone without the visuals. They go nicely together, but it's very interesting to listen to the music, watch the videos, and go back and listen to the music again--there's so much going on that you miss. The brain can't take it all in.

I'm dying to hear this in the 5.1 mix--even among all of my musician friends, none of us own a stereo/DVD player that can play it that way. So I guess I'll be keeping my CD.