IDM Mailing Archive

Sorry to bombard the list with queries and pleas for advice - but here's another one: Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip and jump to about 5 minutes of it, was Synaesthesia "Ephemeral" by Bill Leeb / Rhys Fulber on Hypnotic/Cleopatra, 1997. These names are familiar, but I cannot place them. What I heard sounded like dark ambience. Is this a must-have? Should I rush back and grab it? It was difficult formulating an opinion, because the shop's sound system was bleeding into my headphones and they had a strict policy regarding listening stations, which makes it difficult, especially with long tracks that evolve and grow. Thank you for your reviews and comments! I *

quoted 9 lines Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip

> > >Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip >and jump to about 5 minutes of it, was Synaesthesia "Ephemeral" >by Bill Leeb / Rhys Fulber on Hypnotic/Cleopatra, 1997. > >These names are familiar, but I cannot place them. What I heard >sounded like dark ambience. Is this a must-have? Should I rush >back and grab it?

Leeb and Fulber are the rather manic masterminds behind Delerium, Will, and Front Line Assembly (!). While I can't endure the industrial-mangled-vocal aspects of their output, such as FLA, the darkambientdub music is excellent. Ephemeral is very good, vaguely ethnic loops and huge space ambiences. Early Delerium is in the vein of dark ambient (or even industrial ambient), and recent Delerium is more pop oriented with various guest vocalists. 3

Hello,

quoted 4 lines Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip

>Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip >and jump to about 5 minutes of it, was Synaesthesia "Ephemeral" >by Bill Leeb / Rhys Fulber on Hypnotic/Cleopatra, 1997. >These names are familiar, but I cannot place them.

These are the Frontline Assembly guys, aren't they? Eddie

Irene: Leeb was in the first version of skinny puppy, then left after the material later released on the brap(s) was recorded (ie. before the bites album came out). he then went on to form frontline assembly with rhs fulber. the #1 thing you can say about FA is that they are *extremely* prolific. they've recorded a lot of material and under a lot of different names. while some people can be prolific and be spot-on most of the time, their prolificness (just woke up so forgive me! :)) has dragged down their quality control, methinks. one of the names they use is delerium, which has involved sarah mclachlan (she used to live here in halifax till she was 17 and i think i just bastardized the spelling of her name!) on vocals in the past and present, they've also recorded a lot of industrial-dance, dark ambient, Enigma-ish material, etc, etc. it's funny because with so many different names, some of their poppy stuff gets on commercial radio, whereas stuff like the agressive frontline assembly never does get even close. so, i'd give it another listen, it might be stunning or it might be horrible, it *might* be a keeper, but don't buy on sight. hope this helps. andrew duke :) Irene McC wrote:

quoted 18 lines Sorry to bombard the list with queries and pleas for advice - but

> Sorry to bombard the list with queries and pleas for advice - but > here's another one: > > Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip > and jump to about 5 minutes of it, was Synaesthesia "Ephemeral" > by Bill Leeb / Rhys Fulber on Hypnotic/Cleopatra, 1997. > > These names are familiar, but I cannot place them. What I heard > sounded like dark ambience. Is this a must-have? Should I rush > back and grab it? It was difficult formulating an opinion, because > the shop's sound system was bleeding into my headphones and > they had a strict policy regarding listening stations, which makes it > difficult, especially with long tracks that evolve and grow. > > Thank you for your reviews and comments! > > I > *

-- Andrew Duke's In The Mix show590:Jamie Lidell & Wooly/589:Vogel & Dr. Rendezvous/588:Wang & Vaz/587:Theorem & Baby Pop/586:Sicko & Nova/ listen on Cognition: http://www.techno.ca/cognition

quoted 8 lines Hello,

> Hello, > > >Seen this morning at a 2nd hand shop, and I listened on hop, skip > >and jump to about 5 minutes of it, was Synaesthesia "Ephemeral" > >by Bill Leeb / Rhys Fulber on Hypnotic/Cleopatra, 1997. > >These names are familiar, but I cannot place them. > > These are the Frontline Assembly guys, aren't they?

A mate of mine buys all their stuff - remember him telling me they use big chunky none-too-clever samples of other peoples work in their ambient stuff. As far as their industrial stuff goes, Skinny Puppy stuff like Too Dark Park and and Last Rights crap all over them.

Andrew Duke wrote:

quoted 4 lines Irene: Leeb was in the first version of skinny

> Irene: Leeb was in the first version of skinny > puppy, then left after the material later released > on the brap(s) was recorded (ie. before the bites > album came out).

I think you are refering to Remission, which was the first Skinny Puppy release. Leeb was involved with SP only on a very marginal level.

quoted 2 lines he then went on to form

> he then went on to form > frontline assembly with rhs fulber.

Actually Leeb first started Front Line Assembly with Michael Balch, and then later paired up with Rhys Fulber. Incidentally, the quality of music produced by this act when Fulber got involved shot up around 300%. He's also no longer working with Bill Leeb (which is why the quality of music has recently decreased 300%).

quoted 8 lines the #1 thing you can say about FA is that they

> the #1 thing you can say about FA is that they > are *extremely* prolific. they've recorded > a lot of material and under a lot of different > names. while some people can be prolific > and be spot-on most of the time, their > prolificness (just woke up so forgive me! :)) > has dragged down their quality control, > methinks.

Its the damn truth with these guys.

quoted 6 lines one of the names they use

> one of the names they use > is delerium, which has involved sarah > mclachlan (she used to live here in halifax > till she was 17 and i think i just bastardized > the spelling of her name!) on vocals in > the past and present,

The last Delerium album, Karma, featured Sarah McLachlan on vocals for one track. The best Delerium material, however, is the old stuff. Albums like Morpheus, Spiritual Archives, etc are classic ambient.

quoted 8 lines they've also recorded

> they've also recorded > a lot of industrial-dance, dark ambient, > Enigma-ish material, etc, etc. it's funny > because with so many different names, > some of their poppy stuff gets on > commercial radio, whereas stuff like > the agressive frontline assembly never > does get even close.

Well, the last Delerium album has made it on to commerical radio very marginally but none of Leeb's other projects ever have or ever will. Memo to Synaesthesia fan: If you like Synaesthesia, check out Intermix "Future Primitives" or old Delerium. Those are the only things worth touching.