Customer Reviews

Vs T-World

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you know anything at all about GusGus, you'll know there used to be lots of them. You'll know that they were singers, actors, photographers, film-makers, and, of course, musicians. Before GusGus, they all did other things. The DJ (Herb Legowitz, then known as Maggi Lego) and the computer programmer (Biggi Veira, aka Thorarinsson) used to make music as T-World, for their own enjoyment as much as anything. This album GusGus vs. T-World is a bit of a history lesson: every track here was recorded by T-World before GusGus were even dreamt of. A glimpse into the building of the sound world that is GusGus today, and, they insist, a glimpse at the direction they'll be moving towards with their next proper album. GusGus vs T-World represents another, more reflective side to the 24-hour Icelandic party people. Drawing on Detroit techno, deep house and introspective downbeat grooves, this is music for driving through rainstorms, or that 5am chill. Believe me, it sounds like the best music you've ever heard when you're hurtling across Iceland's alien landscape after a night of sampling Reykjavâk's legendary hospitality. Eschewing the pop sensibilities that made This Is Normal a global underground hit, this excursion allows them to take their collective love of strange sounds, twisted club grooves and obscure musical equipment to its logical conclusion Back in 1991, Biggi Thorarinsson started exploring his musical talents as T-World. Growing up in Breidholt, a Reykjav'k suburb where Depeche Mode ruled in the 80s, Biggi was a computer scientist who discovered music relatively late. His record collection included Sylvester, Divine, Imagination, Soft Cell, Kraftwerk, Carl Craig, Maurizio and, of course, Depeche Mode, all influential in Biggi's eventual musical make-up. An enthusiastic break dancer with a background in funk, soul and disco, Herb Legowitz stepped into the DJ booth in 1988 and didn't leave until GusGus knocked on the door with the promise of following in the footsteps of Franois Kevorkian, Larry Levan and all those other childhood heroes. By 1991 he was already known as Iceland's hardest-working house and techno DJ, after years spent begging borrowing and stealing every record he could lay his hands on. If you're single-handedly bringing this stuff into a country as isolated as Iceland, you've got to work hard to find the music you're looking for. Feeding his habit with occasional trips to mainland Europe, and the goodwill of visiting DJs from around the world, Herb had set out to educate the clubbing population of Reykjav'k to the sounds he was picking up. Upon their second meeting, Biggi asked Herb to join T-World. Through the software company Biggi was working for, they had access to enough vintage synths and other musical equipment to make most producers weep, and spent the years between 1992 and 1995 putting together their own idiosyncratic deep house and techno soul, inspired by the music they were hearing from North America and Europe. Then Underworld's Darren Emerson picked up on a tune called Anthem, which became the first (very limited) release on his fledgling Underwater imprint. The record subsequently disappeared and became something of a lost classic - though heavily promoed, it was never actually given a full release. The track resurfaced in 1998 on a taster 12" for GusGus' second album, This Is Normal, but this is the first time the track has ever been given a full release. When the cinematographic members of (what was to become) GusGus were producing a short film (entitled Pleasure) in the spring of 1995, they asked T-World to provide the music. With other members of the group contributing songs, on completion of the film they decided to take it a step further and become a fully fledged recording outfit, producing an album later that year which included an original T-World track, the Marina Van Rooy-sampling Purple. GusGus released the album themselves in Iceland, and it was picked up by 4AD and re-released as Polydistortion in early 1997. No other T-World tracks have ever been released, until now. The rest you know."Taken from 4AD records page (official site)in Internet".

If you LOVE Gus Gus's other albums but hate instrumental electronic music, well, you might want to look elsewhere. This probably is not for you.

BUT, if you are looking for another album that is *similiar* but not exactly like other albums you love-- maybe Groove Armada's 'Vertigo' or Air's 'Moon Safari' or 'Premiers Symptomes' or Rinocerose 'Innstallation Sonore'-- Well, you have hot the jackpot. This album is NOT exactly like any of the above sounds, however, Gus Gus/T World does a BETTER job of hitting exactly *that* feeling. You know what feeling I'm talking about...

It's late. Maybe you've been out clubbing or partying, and you're pretty tired, but not ready to sleep. All you are looking for is to be transported into some dreamy, almost supernatural realm in which you can relax and just enjoy the awareness of yourself and those who are with you.

Buy this album and play it at those times.

I am a lover of downtempo electronic music. Including those albums listed above, I'm into Theivery Corporation, Tosca, Kruder/Dorfmeister, etc. This album, FAR AND AWAY, is the best downtempo music that I have found. Organic, spiritual, incredibly inspired. I wish all of Gus Gus's albums were like this one.

Had a chance to hear this one last month as some member of GUS GUS was drunk at my house. It is a beautiful piece with some resonance you might have found on a few rare remixes that are floating around the world. Do yourself a favor and his the "add to my cart" button ASAP..you will not regret it.

As an avid Gus Gus listener, I've always felt a little disappointed that the rest of their stuff didn't sound like everthing recorded on this album. Don't get me wrong, This Is Normal and Polydistortion (esp.) are fantastic, but finally, here's an album that really highlights the thread that binds the rest of their work together.

And for those of you who may think that this is a new direction for Gus Gus, don't be misled! Gems like "Anthem" and "Purple" have already appeared on previous compilations (Pi soundtrack and Tranceport vol. 1, respectively). While Gus Gus's more "recent" albums are laudable in their own ways, fans who have been searching for something with a little more dimension and cool flow will definately appreciate this!

It's lights off, late-night, chill out music at its best.

I bought this on impulse (I liked the cover!) and I'm glad I did. I had never heard Gus Gus before (or bought an electronic/techno CD) and from what I hear they're other material sounds different from this CD. And most people I've talked to that like Gus Gus don't like this CD (go figure) anyway, I love every track and play it almost everyday especially when I'm driving for long distances out in the middle of nowhere. The only way I can describe it is: it makes me feel like I'm aboard an alien spacecraft zooming past galaxies and nebulae, in other words, beautiful!

In case you don't already know, "T-World" was a "band" with a couple of members of what would later become GusGus. That said, this is stuff they did from the early to mid 90s and will probably not be thrilling to those expecting poppy dancey "Ladyshave" songs. This is great ambient techno and it grows on you slowly but surely...I didn't much care for it at first, but the more I listened, the more I could see just how great even 2 or 3 members of GusGus can be....

I saw this CD and was thiking "awsome, a new Gus Gus CD" but when I did some checking I found out that T-World was the GusGus moniker back in the early-mid 90's. So I thought, hey cool I can check out their early stuff. It is fantastic. I can see now where GusGus got their base sound and textures from.

This CD is NOT "LadyShave" it is not pop music. What it is is even better. It is ambient techno sounds that beg to be listened to over and over again. The more you listen the more texture you here in these wonderful melodies.

If you want to hear where the modern sound of GusGus originated, do yourself a favor and pick this up.

This disk IS different...for those that didn't know 2 founding members of what is now Gus Gus were once knows as T-World...this is some of their earlier stuff before the name change..much more deeply rooted in the deep house electro breakbeat sound.

This disc is NOTHING like any other gus gus release so if you're expecting the musical ecleticism of other gus gus discs then you'll be disappointed with this . . . unless you like deep house.

I came across gus gus vs. t-world through a friend who gave me his copy because he didn't like it. He tells me: "Each track starts of really good and promising. A new layer of sound is added on top of each other building up to this mulit-layered track but then it hits a plateau and kind of repeats over and over again for the duration of the track. I was expecting it to reach a crescendo or something like that and then come down before ending." So, after listening to the disc, I had to laugh. My friend accurately described what deep house/trance music is all about without even knowing it and that's what this is: pure deep house. Minimal song structures, rhythmic progressions and sweeps of warm shimmering synthesizers, some of the best deep house I've come across since swayzak and aril brikha.

Personally, I can't get enough of it! The only disappointments here are purple (#4) because it's too techno-ravy annoying for me and that the disc is too short. I want the tracks to go on and on. However, the rest is wonderfully wonderful shimmering deep house <sigh>. earl grey (#3) is my favorite. That track couldn't be any more perfect. I love that spacy sounding melody that non-stop echoes and simmers underneath all the different layers sound.

This is definitely very cool, laidback chillout music. Possibly a bit alienating to diehard gus gus fans but if you listen to it with an open mind you can see exactly where gus gus get thier ideas for tracks like 'snoozer' or 'blue mug'.

Good stuff.

The best thing to do with this CD is to lie in your bed with those really big Mickey Mouse headphones, turning the volume waayyyyy up, and to feel your soul leave your body as you savor the tracks. Then fall asleep. You will--exhausted. Each song is textured so that you feel like you're on a fashion show run-way and in a jungle at the same time. Some songs that stand out are "Anthem," found on the "Pi" soundtrack (also check out Clint Mansell); "Northern Lights"; "Purple"--the highlight of the EP and previously on "Polydistortions"; and "Sleepytime." Though "Gus Gus vs. T-World" doesn't compare to "Polydistortions" stylistically, it certainly is highly listenable and better than most electronica music out nowadays. Buy it, and you'll get a free history lesson of the house/trance genre.