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4 1/2This, like their equally innovative ambient companion LF, is one of those rare early next-gen idm releases that actually stands up with time from all the inherent creativity humanizing sensual robotica.
In some ways dated, it doesn't sound as punchy or full as the top trance, IDM or dub artists, but "Dead Cities" is no dance record.Each song has a distinct style and identity. Highly recommended. more conventional, beat driven and energetic than the rest of the disk, one might find themselves prematurely labelling "Dead Cities" as just another album of catchy techno bangers. It's these sounds that make the album a seamless experience.In conclusion, this album is an experience that should be had by any fan of electronic music not afraid of the darker side of things. "Dead Cities" was my first FSoL purchase, and it's a journey of cinematic proportions.
Many of these tracks are so distinct and memorable, classics that will stand the test of time. "Dead Cities" is an album for burned out psychonauts haunted by memories of bad trips, nameless, irrational fear and overpowering melancholy. "Dead Cities" is one of the great masterpieces of 90's electronica. 5 stars. There's the lonely, panic-stricken ambience of "Everyone in the World is Doing Something Without Me", the Global Communication-esque piano-driven new agey bliss of "Max", the transcendent downtempo ambient techno mindf**k of "Yage" and the weirdly dramatic, nostalgic closer, "First Death in the Family", which almost makes me tear up. Subtle and initially distant and mechanical, but with a warm sentimentality underneath.FSoL's breakbeat work is great too.
Thematic, yes, but never content to let the listener stay in one place for long; full of twists, turns, and dramatic flourishes, this album redefines what is possible in electronic music. The booklet is filled with distorted, nightmarish images and random, incoherent phrases "things. The opener "Herd Killing" as well as "Quagmire" show off their breakbeat splicing skill.Yet, the best parts of the album may be the truly film-like interludes and transitions between tracks, creating spatial environments with panning effects and shimmering synths. I dare anyone who thinks electronica is cold and devoid of feeling to put on this emotional rollercoaster of a disk.The first few minutes of the disk may be misleading to those not familiar with FSoL. And of course, the triumphant, majestic, completely danceable "My Kingdom", which uses a sample from Vangelis to great effect.Tracks like "Antique Toy" and "Glass" fall more in line with what FSoL's contemporaries in Britain were doing at the time, and don't sound too far from the sound of Autechre's "Tri Repetae", released the same year. This vague, disoriented 'f**ked up' is what the album exudes.The production juxtaposes the gritty, rough sounds of sampled breaks with crystal clears, almost hyperreal cinematic ambience.
But tracks like "We Have Explosive" are actually the minority, and "Dead Cities" cannot easily be placed into any sub genre that exists.It takes until the 5th track for the album to fully reveal its intensely paranoid, alienated, confused personality. round here are getting f**ked up".
Even when the duo returned in 2002 with The Isness, it was. Dead Cities was not received with as much success as my absolute favorite, earlier 1994 release Lifeforms [the latter climbed to 6 position on the UK Album Charts, while Dead Cities got up to 22]. not the same. Oh, and how's this for a shocker for you. This is obviously an amazing record to start off my Random Vinyl of the Week adventure, as I dig through my dusty archives.
I hope I have excited you enough to revisit Dead Cities through my first adventure of Random Vinyl of the Week. This is one of the albums to hold in your hands and marvel at its grandiose and epic stand in time. Since 2007, FSOL has opened up their vault and released a collection of forgotten tracks from their library, titled From The Archives (it is now up to its 5th volume). "I have killed a man.
A man who looked like me." The album is an absolute classic, and its complex ambient and cinematic fragments continue to offer new insight into the minds of FSOL. Released in 1996, Dead Cities was Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans' fourth full length album as The Future Sound of London. The title of the track is Max and the pianist's last name is Richter. On one of the tracks guess who's playing piano. An album from the future that rusted in the past. Like a empty feeling after watching a rerun of Blade Runner [and the sample off Mary Hopkin's vocals from the movie's soundtrack], the eerie nostalgia of revisiting a dirty old friend crackles in the hindsight.
In addition to restructured MIDI files, Max Richter has also contributed other recordings and "environments". We Have Explosive (which also came out as a single) features several samples from Run DMC's album Tougher Than Leather.
Riphead. I know that I have worked myself up enough to seek out the limited box set release [complete with a booklet.]., and am now waiting for it to arrive in the mail.
The album cover (and the two inserts that house the double vinyl) feature 3D graphics and digitally processed photography by Buggy G. Dead Cities was that very last record and then there was a torturing silence for six years.
I'll give you a hint. The rest of the sounds [all very dear and familiar to my mind at this point] all convey the atmosphere of urban decay.
How can one describe the layered dark samples with memorable vocal lines that are implanted in my brain. The music of Dead Cities features more sampled beats carefully blending in big-beat and bringing trip-hop into the mix.
Good concept. So starkly beautiful and always grooving. Great Album. This is The best FSOL project in my opinion. I like everything they do but this takes all they had done before and added a whole new level to electronic music.
Hats off to Dougans and Cobain , the musical geniuses behind this production. And TG did it back in the 70's.live. the 'top 40' variety) this would be an unbearable CD to have to sit through, but for those with more open musical tastes, particularly in the lineage of ambient, acid techno , then this CD is for you.
For those looking for something similar, try Tangerine Dream's 'Ricochet'. Even the album cover , like Dead Cities, is ominous. This is the only album I can compare it to in terms of eerie, haunting, beautiful, intricate , complex and dark.
For those with a narrow musical mind, (i.e. But the songs as a whole fit perfectly together and mesh well. Good stuff.
The soundscapes and musical textures on this masterpiece are eerie, haunting, beautiful, intricate, complex and dark. I particularly enjoy the track 'Glass'.
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