|
Boom Boom Satellites didn't want to wait to remix other groups...so they made up their own songs and remixed as they went along to get that up-tempo dance hall feel. They may have just been fooling around, dabbling out from their roots to see what sort of electronic music they could grow, but the effect of their CD, Full of Elevating Pleasures, is one of throwing down the gauntlet. "Hey," they shout, "tell me everything's not a little bit better in techno." A techno-color dream coat? Sure, I'll buy that. Masayuki Nakano and Michiyuki Kawashima are far more serious than that -- which is why they can't be dismissed as a harder-edged form of the ever-playful synth-pop -- and it gives their album a solid, smooth feel. Yes, some of their songs are repetative and perhaps better for use in movies (or anime, which they've worked with before). But the majority of the pieces on this CD seem very polished and very much like synthesized versions of other musical acts. For instance, "Spine," which has a frenetic technobabbling going on, has the energy (and nonsense) of the Beastie Boys (though more musically inclined). "Propeller" spins the spoken word like a real raving rapper, and "Anthem -reprise" might as well be one of Bjork's vocal experiments (one of the good ones). When they're not busy fusing sounds into killer, compact hybrids, Boom Boom Satellites still makes a solid entry into the synth-rock genre, with songs like "Ride On" (which has the feel of British grunge beneath all the flair) and "Moment I Count" (punk, but better). To be fair though, some of their songs, like the spoken-word "Stride," illustrate how badly an artist can fail at hybridization (we call that bastardization). But even my least favorite, "Sonic Tail," a work of sonic experimentation, is at least trying new stuff, even if its "found sound" form of art (reproducing everyday sounds as music) isn't very good.
CONDITION: NEW! Promo Only printed on label. MINT CONDITION NEVER PLAYED!
TRACK LISTINGS
1 Rise and Fall
2 Let It All Come Down
3 Moment I Count
4 Ride On
5 Spine
6 Route for Exile
7 Back in the Night
8 Propeller
9 Drive for You
10 Anthem (Reprise)
11 Echo Tail
12 Stride
|