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Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

1994

Haunted Dancehall
Album Summary

Haunted Dancehall is the second studio album by English electronic music group The Sabres of Paradise. It was released through Warp on 28 November 1994. It peaked at number 57 on the UK Albums Chart.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.4

Votes

12729

Genres

  • Electronica

Reviews

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Feb 17 2021
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1

I was eager to stop listening to this.

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Feb 11 2021
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1

Pointless bullshit noise. These aren't songs. The're pieces of songs desperately trying to pass themselves off as complete songs. Useless and angering. Why the hell is this even on the list?!

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Jul 02 2021
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2

You remember that episode of Friends where Ross made a song by playing all the weird noises on his Casio? This is that, but the noises are a yipping dog and a coffee grinder. Also, it was kind of comical when Ross did it. Best track: Wilmot

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Sep 26 2021
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2

Being given the accolade of "the 47th best album of 1994" really feels about right, for this.

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May 26 2021
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1

I expected a lot more out of an album titled Haunted Dancehall. Certainly sounds like the most boring place in the world.

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Apr 05 2021
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3

Going in, I had no idea what to expect from Haunted Dancehall, as I had never heard of Sabres of Paradise, and am not generally interested in techno. To my surprise, Haunted Dancehall isn't bad at all. The Sabres position themselves halfway between ambient and dance music. I can easily imagine this playing in a bar or club or sushi restaurant. It's pleasant sonically and has a laid back, cool vibe, but has enough energy to provide a consuming mood, whether that consumption be food, drugs or alcohol. The first few tracks are quite abstract. The sound sources are varied and quite tasteful. No horrid synth patches here. The sonic manipulation is creative and tasteful as well. The rhythms are mostly fairly simple. The interest comes from how the various elements fit together. On these early tracks, the Sabres sometimes deconstruct the tunes a bit to point out the art in what they're doing. It's a savvy strategy because the parts fit together so naturally, the effort and creativity involved would otherwise go unnoticed. About six tracks in, the tunes get less abstract and more songlike. For me, this is a mistake because it calls too much attention to the functional nature of the music. This kind of music should glide over the smooth brains of the listeners, lulling them into the desired emotional state. Even here though, the same virtues of economy, taste, and studio mastery remain. After a few tracks, the Sabres return to a more abstract style for the rest of the album, which I actually prefer. How do I rate this? It's quite well done, but this is functional music, not really meant for close listening. If I put this on a playlist, it would be as a palate cleanser. Is it wrong of me to refuse to give a higher score because of a perceived lack of artistic ambition? Maybe. It feels like snobbery. Oh well. 3.5/5

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Feb 17 2021
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1

Garbage. Just shitty electronic music like this is the 70s. No music, just random sounds. Imagine paying for this. 1/10.

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Sep 08 2023
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2

First song sounded like really broken plumbing

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Apr 09 2021
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2

Couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s because I was wearing trainers.

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May 04 2021
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2

cover looks like it might be rockabilly, but it's from the 90s. hmm. might also be techno cause dancehall etc. haha ok it's dank 90s techno. lol and of COURSE it's from the uk. classic 1001 albums editor shenanigans. i'll give it a chance, but at 1hr 16min there's no way this isn't gonna be WAY TOO FUCKING LONG. it's pretty... minimalist? granted I'm only on about minute 8 of 75, but I think I have a pretty good idea what to expect the rest of the time. And ok yep an hour later, that was pretty lame! This would have been a 3 if it didn't stay out its welcome, because it wasn't THAT bad for the first couple of songs. But the full thing? uuughhh, fuckin hell. 2/5.

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May 06 2021
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2

Tracks don't show much progression in their ~ 6-minute runtime. Best tracks are Wilmot and Tow Truck. 4/10, not bad but I'm always waiting for something to happen that never does

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Jan 12 2022
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1

I think this aged poorly. Sounds like robots banging on garbage.

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Nov 25 2021
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5

I know nothing about this album. That's always dead exciting. The songs look long which is a worry. Bubble and Slide sounds nice. Slightly afrobeaty. Bubble and Slide 2 has some lovely filters over its beat. Glitchy. I love it. Duke of Earlsfield goes dubbier. And a bit crazy towards the end, another great track. Flight Path Estate is more slight, but is also shorter in line with it's relative lack of ideas. It's immediately followed by Portishead's mix of Planet D which is straight back up there again. Gloomy and dark while also feeling quite chilled. Wilmot has a baseline that makes me want it to go full junglist lunacy... It doesn't, but I still love it. It sounds like music from the weirdest arcade machine on the planet. Tow Truck is actually pretty sexy - like spy film music. Theme follows in a similar style, before another short noise experiment called Theme 4. In short, I am coming back to this, and I an gutted it's never had a vinyl repress - C'mon Warp Records, please do it!

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Jan 18 2024
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2

I listened to it at work and didn't know when it ended.

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Dec 07 2023
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1

The dancehall is haunted by the ghosts of those who died of boredom listening to this.

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Dec 15 2022
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4

Finally some good electronic music! I do not understand the hate this album got. It is fresh

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Feb 25 2021
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4

Funky. Good background music. I'm bobbing my head along to it as I work.

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Oct 14 2024
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2

IDM even in 1994 already had some quite interesting and important releases and even the idea of mixing Ambient soundscapes and ideas with it wasn't new as one could hear on the Aphex Twin debut. To be fair, this album was going a much more classic Ambient approach than Aphex Twin and deserves at least that credit for what it brought after. But that still does not mean that the album is good. There are certain elements that are done very well and even interesting but most that the album offers fails the most fundamental thing that Ambient tries. It does not create a relaxed ambience that can work as background music but also as a beautiful soundscape if you listen closer. Instead, the album is just annoying and in some cases gets progressively worse with how demanding it is and I don't use demanding as a compliment here. 'Bubble and Slide' opens the album in not the most pleasent way with something that sounds like a clogged toilet turned into a Techno beat. It sounds abhorrent and disgusting as if a Goregrind Metal vocalist decided to put his voice through the worst computer synthesizer that one could find and play around with it. The additional synths (those that bring in the Ambient) as well as the Industrial aspects don't really improve it much and the song ends sounding as terrible as the start. And as if wasn't enough, 'Bubble and Slide II' comes in as the second part of that same song but luckily, the toilet sounds are gone and replaced with overly repetitive drum machine sounds that sometimes get broken up by some synths before it repeats again. Repeating the same thing is very often what makes Ambient interesting but it is also very easy to f*ck up as they did here. If it was a less obnoxious drum machine and more of the Ambient synths, it would've been okay but the result as they did it here is too much, too loud and just annoying. After around 3 minutes, it does get better and does exactly what I just said but still not enough to be good because after a while it goes right back to what it did in the beginning. That middle part is the only listenable and not bad one but it isn't good either and the song as an entire entity is overall just bad. The following 'Duke of Earlsfield' is even longer at nearly 9 minutes of playtime and is actually the longest track on the record. I do think that both the drum machine as well as the other synths and production choices are much better here and actually create something that is a nice mix of IDM and Ambient even though I wished there was more of the latter because the way it is here, is just a little bit questionable as you can clearly hear their ambition but very much wonder why they didn't go into that more. But apart from that, the song is actually quite okay, if not good. The mix of bell synths and the darker and more distorted Ambient synths later on feel like they are implemented in a good way, only the the part at the 6 minute mark holds it back a little bit. Overall, this is a pretty good IDM track. The darker and more distorted tones are amplified a lot on 'Flight Path Estate' which is present from the very first second. And while I liked it the firt few repetitions, the longer it played the more annoying it got. Until the additional synths come in, it's just hard to listen to and once something else appears, it feels like it doesn't really fit. These Ambient synths on their own would've been lovely and actually sound like something you'd hear in Minecraft but these loud soundscapes are just unbearable. One part of it I love, the other I hate but the second plays for much longer, so it's a not a good song. The track 'Planet D' was mixed and produced by Portishead and although I really like some of what Portishead did back then, this is certainly not one of them. The drums and the Ambient synths are really well made but for some reason they decided to put an unfitting sound as a "hook" into an otherwise okay IDM & Trip Hop track. The song isn't bad by any means but a couple of their production choices do feel rather weird. But it still is a listenable and okay song that just doesn't do very much at all which does help the Ambient aspect of it but not really the Electronic or Trip Hop side. The lead single 'Wilmot' comes around with some very interesting choices that range from tropic sounding guitar to cow bells to weird soundscapes and some very obnoxious vocal samples. But, that was just the intro (which isn't good by the way). The actual song mainly builds around a very present bass and adds a lot of different elements, some of which we heard in that weird intro. I feel like nothing here fits together, it's all thrown into one pot and stirred a little bit too much. There are definitely Ambient IDM ideas here but there is too much change here and there that it doesn't really end up being good at either one of them. Ambient lives off of well repeating beautiful sounds that put you into a trance and IDM lives of a certain repetition that is worked around with some artistic ideas and aspects but here it's just too much. I cannot fully enjoy the song because the moments when I do think that it's about to actually work, the next weird detail is added while another one goes astray. The entire time, I am just confused and annoyed by everything the song does and it ends up being very unpleasent. I have no idea why they thought repeating a loud alarm siren at the start of 'Tow Truck' was good idea. Nearly the entire first minute is ruined by it but luckily, it does go upwards from there. The dark and Western sounding guitar is really well worked into the song and I think that it if the drums were a little bit less obnoxious and the siren wasn't put in there again, it would've been a good song but overall I am just too annoyed by those "details" that I can't really put much love towards the parts that I do enjoy. It's an okay track, still The albums second half is started with the 'Theme' that goes into a epic sound that builds up and nearly feels like from a spy movie. It has energetic and epic guitars and the whole thing is just EPIC... Well, it would've been if they didn't decide to add way too loudly mixed drums and bass above it that make all the good stuff feel like background music. I do think that these epic parts are really great but the rhythm section they plastered on top destroys it all and tuns a great song very, very average. Which is sad because it could've been one of the albums best tracks. Of course after a first theme you need a second one, or better a fourth one because 'Theme 4' for some reason appears as a very short, nearly interlude like track that has some Ambient elements going for it but they are mixed so incredible loud that instead of being atmospheric, the are unbearable to human ears. I bet that a bat or a dog might find this more pleasent but I definitely do not. If they had just mixed the atmosphere quieter it would've been okay but this is really bad. 'Return to Planet D' does a similar thing where it tries to do the Ambient IDM mix but mess up with the mixing and make parts way too loud that should not have been made this loud. Some synths are also pretty terrible, giving me flashbacks to the toilet sounds at the start of record and while I think that a slightly different production and better mixing would've saved it, the way it got onto the album is just terrible. The album really doesn't get better when 'Ballad of Nicky McGuire' again features synths that sound like a clogged toilet. It isn't as terrible as the opening track and some production elements do actually work, the main rhythms are just unlistenable. And if a terrible sound isn't enough, it is streched to over 8 minutes of repeating terrible synths and annoying sounds. Just the sheer length with the production is enough to qualify this for a terrible song. It does get better later on but the first half is unlistenable while the second is just not good with a lot of very high pitched, nearly stinging synths and the clogged toilet sounds. On the other hand, some synths are quite good and actually have a well sounding Ambient tone to it but they go under between all the badly produced and mixed ideas. 'Jacob Street 7am' goes into a Space Ambient direction and tunes the IDM a little bit down. It does create a nocturnal and dark sound but some production ideas just don't work especially the distorted synth and "drum" parts. If it was stripped down and more bare bones, it would've been passable but like this it's just not really good. It has an ambition and you can hear that ambition but they fail at actually making it happen. It ends up sounding really annoying and ruined. They ruined a good song into something really bad. With a similar title, 'Chapel Street Market 9am' comes next and extends the spacey sounds into an even longer track and also adds even more annoying and misplaced addtions that ruin a completely fine Ambient track. Even the drums are better mixed and if they were a little slower, would've actually made a good song but the synth that I suppose was intended to sound like some mechanical sounds from a spacecraft or something, ruins the well made Ambient synth that plays more in the background. It is more pleasent to listen to that its predecessor but that still does not make it close to being good. In fact, they streched it another three minutes with some synths that are definitely too loud and ruined the okay first half into something that causes physical discomfort. Something that Ambient should never do. NEVER. Still, they made them so obnoxiously loud that I feel like my eardrums have taken permanent damage from listening at medium volume. The album closes with the title track 'Haunted Dancehall' which has some more high-pitched and too loudly mixed synths but also some dark and distorted ones that are mixed even louder and make the entire song sound even worse. It does not work at all and sounds absolutely abhorrent. Abysmal, terrible, unlistenable, torturing. Whatever you wanna call it, it probably fits here. favourites: Duke of Earlsfield least favourites: Haunted Dancehall, Bubble and Slide, Return to Planet D, Wilmot, Ballad of Nicky McGuire, Chapel Street Market 9am Rating: light to decent 3 (if it wasn't for Duke of Earlsfield, it would've been a 2) https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

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Jan 24 2024
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2

2.4 - As I listen to this, I picture a caffeine-addled Robert Dimery pacing frantically around his office at 4 am, just hours before a deadline to turn in a book draft to his publisher. CDs and LPs are strewn haphazardly around the room. In his panic, he slips on some liner notes and falls on his face. When he finally comes to, he opens his eyes and sees the cover to this album staring back at him. "Oh, here's one I can add! This one's obscure enough that it'll fly under everyone's radar! OK, only 389 more albums to go!"

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Feb 22 2024
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1

There was a "game" for the ps1 called music 2000 where you could layer up a bunch of prerecorded samples and make "original" songs, and all of the songs you made sounded like this album. In isolation there are a few bits here and there that sound like the precursor to interesting music but it's repeated so much and put together in such a lifeless way that I lost interest after 30 seconds. And then it would go on for 7 minutes. I think there is a decent 4 minute album in this but as a whole it was dire and I can't imagine why it was included. Maybe the "electronic" music critic only had about 4 albums he actually wanted to include and after he ran out of orbital and portishead he has to scrape the bottom of the barrel for this nonsense.

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Jun 24 2024
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5

Surprisingly great! Don't get why this record gets so much hate - it's inventive, has some good tunes here and there and it manages to keep your attention, though it's over an hour long. 9/10, but 5/5

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Apr 16 2024
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5

Oh this is so awesome and right up my alley. I'd never heard of these guys before so what a treat. Bubble and Silde starts off on the right foot but Bubble and Slide II take the cake for me. Duke of Earlsfield is a jam with Planet D, Wilmot, and Theme amping up again. There's just so much to like, for me, on this album.

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Feb 10 2023
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4

Though I prefer Andrew Weatherall's other project, Two Lone Swordsmen, slightly more, I do appreciate this. Has lots of interesting layered pitch shifting and dubby reverb and delay all over it, giving it a high contrast blend of treble and bass. Very textured atmosphere, but it definitely has a harshness to it, so I can see why some people find it unpalatable. I gravitate towards the more downtempo numbers like "Duke of Earlsfield" and the one remixed by Portishead. If I heard this high AF at a 90's rave it might've broken my brain.

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Jan 20 2023
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4

Weird and haunted - in a good way. Unique beats.

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Jan 12 2023
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4

Really good stuff. Had never heard of it before.

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Jul 29 2022
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4

This record is a mood. I like it and I will listen again. Wilmot is my favorite track.

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Jul 22 2022
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4

As soon as I saw this was on Warp Records, I knew to expect something off-beat and interesting. Put this on in my earbuds while running errands. Great instrumental background music. Very interested in hearing more of their work.

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Apr 29 2022
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4

Really interesting sonically. Can tell that this album had an influence on the urban/hardccore music to come from the UK in the years to follow.

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May 28 2021
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4

On of the best electronic albums I've heard

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Feb 19 2021
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4

It's of a time. I bet it sounded rad in 1994

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Jul 25 2024
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3

So out of all the EDM / IDM releases from Warp Records, the 1001 Albums book had to pick this one. Andrew Weatherall, who was at the helm of this project during the early nineties was probably a deciding factor for the inclusion of this LP (may he rest in power). The man got known for remixing songs by Happy Mondays, New Order, Primal Scream... So tell me you have a rock bias without ever directly telling me you have a rock bias, Mr. Dimery. And this while selecting a record whose DNA is 99% electronic. Nicely done... This album is still a more than decent representative of its overall genre, but it's got a huge problem if you want to consider it for a list like this: it's unable to dig one clear groove, and thus risks losing large chunks of its potential audience. Frankly, I think this lack of cohesiveness is here a fatal flaw. Worse, those stylistic U-turns, which could have been assets with slightly different choices, mostly fail to properly dynamize the tracklisting. The worst of both worlds, so to speak. To be more specific, the album is divided in three parts that don't really fit with each other. Its first third displays some sort of minimalistic EDM that's a bit too linear and drowsy at times. You do get the picture of bubbles being slashed by swords in the two-part opener, as announced by the latter's title... but after mere minutes of slow build-up, the predictable layerings of patterns at its heart can be as hypnotic for some listeners as it will be boring for others. Interesting, I guess... But "essential' electronic music? The second third of the record suddenly explores big beat and dub-adjacent territories, and this part just aged like milk. Dated breakbeats and weird loops are not enough to hide how vacuous those four or five cuts are... The last part then returns to very ambient soundscapes, and it's the one that fares better today. FAR better. Ironically, those last four cuts are also the moment where The Sabres Of Paradise are very close to the electronic masters from the seventies and the early eighties. As if only exploring the past could allow you to appear as relevant in the future (a phenomenon that's actually not so rare in electronica)... You can scent whiffs of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre or John Carpenter in that great tail end of the album. But that admittedly derivative-albeit-pretty-nice-and-convincing upgrade is very much a last-minute course-correction, and therefore can't justify including the whole album in my eyes. Warp has so many better and stronger records and artists in its roster, from LFO and Boards Of Canada to Aphex Twin, Broadcast, PVT, Oneohtrix Point Never or Squid. Some of those artists are mentioned in Dimery's book, others are conspicuously absent in it. And it's up to you to discover them all... 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list gathering "essential albums" to listen to, here rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 grade for more general purposes (5 for musical competency + 2.5 for the artistry). Number of albums left to review: 128 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 377 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 223 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 283 (including this one)

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Jun 01 2023
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3

I quite enjoyed it but there are so many more albums that deserve a place on the list rather than this

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Jan 09 2023
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3

some good tracks but this is not anyone's favourite album

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Mar 03 2021
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3

This is why I don't like skipping albums! When listening to 'Bubble and Slide' as the first track I almost wrote this album off as a psychedelic bore. That couldn't be further from the truth. I could imagine that certain substances may enhance the experience of this album but it was enjoyable whilst working away regardless. I found myself head bobbing away slowly when listening to tracks like 'Planet D' and 'Tow Truck' put me in the mindset of James Bond as a lead character in Snatch. This whole album was a chilled out trip that I would never have had the pleasure of riding usually. 3/5 because of the lack of wow factor but this was a lovely listen.

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May 06 2021
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3

enjoyed it more the more i listened. interesting.

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Oct 14 2024
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2

Ein Remix ist gut. Der Rest nicht.

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Aug 25 2024
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2

A wide range of ringtones trying to pass off as "songs".

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Nov 09 2024
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1

I’m sorry, but this is probably the dumbest band name I’ve ever heard. …and once again, I ask, “Why is Stereolab’s “Dots and Loops not on this list?”

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Feb 02 2024
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1

You can really count on Robert Dimery, an English writer and editor who had previously worked for magazines such as Time Out and Vogue, to churn out some forgettable English Electronica on his list. Jokes aside, I came close to getting locked in on some of the weird stuff going on in the arrangements, but it was so bland and repetitive I couldn’t do it. I guess if I had grown up on this kind of stuff or had heard it contextualize at the time, I would be singing a different tune, but as it stands right now I can’t be bothered to push myself into forcing appreciation for this. Top track: Bubble And Slide II

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Sep 18 2022
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1

I wasn’t really expecting this. This is the kind of music I would expect to hear in Spongebob during his rave with the jellyfish. The first 2 songs sound like electric zoo. They are kind of funny to me, but uninteresting. I also do not like songs without lyrics, so none of these songs really stood a chance anyways. I probably wouldn’t even put any of these songs on as background music, except maybe Wilmot.

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Oct 21 2024
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5

A strong fun electronic album. Enjoyed it end to end .

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Aug 27 2024
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5

I love the spooky, dark vibe throughout this album. It really feels conceptual in spite of being entirely instrumental. One of those albums you can just get lost in. I'm always happy to see more electronic inclusion here as well.

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Jul 22 2024
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5

Thoroughly enjoyed this even though the first track sounded like some guy taking a shit

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Jun 24 2024
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5

Maybe it’s the ADHD/transfemme brainworms, but this is exactly the kind of all-inclusive, anything goes, subtextual, just plain old weird yet chaotic experience teetering between a rave and a sensory deprivation tank that soothes my mind and speaks to my soul.

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Jan 05 2024
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5

This was interesting to listen to right after Fela Kuti because they’re not dissimilar. This almost felt like an evolution of afrobeat, although this band isn’t from Africa AFAIK. I loved this and it was perfect for my purposes today: travelling long distance by car. Like yesterday’s album, I wish the songs were shorter because I’d definitely listen to them frequently if they were…but I do want to keep this one my phone regardless, so it gets a 5 from me.

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Mar 20 2023
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5

странный альбом но допустим....

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Mar 08 2023
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5

Musiikkia korvilleni. Säännöksi voisi sanoa että chilling and wibing albumit aina ansaitsemassa yhtä tähteä. Nytten ei ansaitse heh. rento tunnelma ei johtunut laiskuudesta. Heh. Mukavan moody, mutta ei satunnainen, tässä on tarkasti määritelty mielintila. Hyvin experimental kun ottaa huomioon vuoden 1994. Stands the test of time. Kuitenkin heh.. Aphex twin dropannu 1992 senkertaparempaapaskaa heh. Onko tämä upgrade heh.. Jos oltais poimittu parhaat.. vois tämä esittää olevansa. Tokavikassa kappaleessa Chapel Street Market 9 Am lirahtaa vähän ruskiaa housuikkoon. (Objektive shit).. heh… PASKALTA KUULLOSTAA, KORVAAN TYLSÄHKÖ.Intensia jää jonnekkin.. filleriä..kö… Niin sitä luulee.. Heh.. VEDETTY KUIN KOIRAA NARUSTA.. kuuntelijaa… Vika biisi.. albumin nimikkobiisi…heh.. viimeisenä tulee.. päräyttää paikat paskaksi.. Meaning… Beuty. Buety of Sound.. Meaning.. in sound.. sound, ,, sound no text… No lyyrik.. Finding something is true.. after.. after your awakening… After beuty.. cannot discripe.. discribe the feeling.. Another world opens.. maybe full of problems… but when door open.. you dont see problems, they are hiding.. you only see light… Light shines.. glimmers and shines,, deep understanding, reflections of light.. trigonometry… light goes.. and goes…. you dont.. You dont go… you watch the glimmering… The newness should scare,, but no.. it cares… scare is not present, its away.. instead,,, love… happiness,,,, finding,, the… the,,, the,,, Light dims, door closed position.

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Apr 01 2022
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5

Best Sabras of Paradise album? Probably, starts off with the classic sounds of Bubble and Slide and contains The Balled of Nicky McGuire, one of the best electronic songs of the 90s.

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Jun 20 2021
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5

Comes ar you like a ray, like a beam. Loved it.

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Feb 05 2021
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5

Completely unfamiliar with this one. I like it a lot. An innovative techno LP from 1994. Standout tracks: "Duke Of Earsfield", "Wilmot", "Tow Truck", "Theme", "Ballad Of Nicky McGuire"

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Nov 22 2024
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4

Album opens on a distinctive note with Bubble and Slide. True to its name, it sounds like a quantized sample of water glugging through a drain. Some bright synth lines are laid over top before we follow the water down the drain into Pt. II. This second part turns to a shuffling drum beat with sci-fi electro-beam synths and other effects on top. Duke of Earlsfield keeps the vibe alive with a jazzy bass progression and percussion elements that feel like they are being cast through a tunnel. Whole thing is great to bob to. Just finished the review of Dummy and happy to see Portishead cropping up again here. Certainly can feel their production influence on Planet D with the distance and dreamlike elements to the punchy trip-hop beat. Wilmot is a fun little dubby number. Honestly I lost focus after this point to some more pressing work. On vibes alone this one scores around a 4. I feel like it was longer than necessary, but the instrumentation was interesting and I could vibe continuously.

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Nov 22 2024
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4

This started off as some strange industrial techno type music and I thought I had a long hour and 17 minutes ahead of me. But quickly turned into some pretty sweet electronic beats a few songs in. Wilmot is where I really got engaged into the album with its electronic reggae action going on. Then from there it was a pretty awesome album. There were some glonky ass sounds on Ballad of Nicky McGuire that were cracking me up. This was a high 4, a bit too long and some pretty boring filler songs in there made it not a 5. But overall much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

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Nov 15 2024
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4

Actually really cool, I don’t normally like experimental stuff but this was awesome techno.

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Nov 14 2024
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4

Bangers all down the whole tracklist. Constantly grooving and managed to experiment at the same time

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Oct 25 2024
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4

Had never heard of this record and it was surprising. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would

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Oct 23 2024
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4

Fav: Wilmot Least Fav: Bubble And Slide Certainly the strangest album I’ve listened to so far, and it doesn’t feel very haunted but all the songs slap. Some…interesting choices for these songs but they just work

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Jul 25 2024
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4

The track 'Theme' made a bird look funny driving to work today. I was coming off the interstate and this lil guy walked from the middle of the ramp to the shoulder to this song. 10/10 moment!

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Jul 18 2024
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4

This is what I enjoy most about this list - discovering artists you'd never heard of, and loving what they do. This sits up there with the likes of Fingathing and Buckethead for me - great music to work to. I'll be searching out more of their material!

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Jul 14 2024
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4

It's Electronica, and I like Electronica. Broad ambient style, mixed with quite nice experimental sounds. Long? No, that's stuff that can go on for hours.

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Jul 07 2024
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4

ambient and experimental techno music. the effects are really creative this time around, the mixture of phasers, delays, and gated reverb techniques create instrumentals that sound like an interstellar space lounge. it's an alluring, enchanting album. it reminds me of an i spy picture, like the pictures from the books. everything is so vast, colorful... yet liminal and otherworldly. you can't help but look away, or in this case to stop yourself from listening. it's an oddity.

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Jun 27 2024
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4

Fun electronic instrumental album. Has some pretty neat tunes, but does kinda lag on. You start to feel that run time towards the end.

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Jun 26 2024
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4

I get why this has such a low rating, IDM is definitely not the most accessible genre. But I really like this. Definitely the kind of thing you need on in the background while doing other things, otherwise the repetitive nature of this album will start to get annoying. But when you listen to this in the right mood, it's really cool and experimental, psychedelic almost.

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Jun 20 2024
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4

Didn’t hate it. Did not live up to name or album cover.

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Jun 13 2024
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4

a totally new album and new band for me. i liked it. i might not listen to it again but i liked it.

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Jun 03 2024
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4

What it says on the tin. Not bad.

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May 27 2024
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4

Grew on my throughout. Decent staying power despite also very obviously being a little older

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May 23 2024
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4

2nd time I have had this one, not an album I have heard often, but a solid off-beqt electronica album

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Apr 25 2024
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4

Like putting on a favourite old pair of jeans. I remember getting this album at Christmas 1994 and rinsing it on the Walkman. Wilmot is still Killer but it has aged. The production is still original sounding. Weather all was God.

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Apr 16 2024
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4

I'm a big fan of the Warp Records schtick - this kind of ambient / IDM blend is catnip to me. Amusing to see all the low scoring reviews from people that can't stand it though! 😆 I didn't have this specific album back in the day, so it's not benefiting from a direct nostalgia bump, but it's close enough to a lot of stuff I love to benefit a little. Fave tracks - "Wilmot" and "Theme" are the bangers. "Chapel Street Market 9am" from the more ambient side of things...

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Apr 01 2024
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4

chilli elektroninen tekno ambientti joint... 1994 sound like pop corn from 1969... good homage... huomaa hyvin miten tämä teki osansa lhardcrore hardstyle rawstyle melodic cybergrind psytrance aggrotech frenchcore schranzesque maschore uptempo moombathon tyyppisen musiikin luomisessa.. Garbage. Just shitty electronic music like this is the 70s. No music, just random sounds. Imagine paying for this. 10/10... jos ei laula ...satunnaisääniä... wilmot

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Mar 22 2024
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4

I enjoyed this. It was sort of background music to me, but good in that Warp Ninja Tune way.

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Mar 22 2024
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4

Production on this is exquisite. Really interesting album.

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Mar 20 2024
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4

wikipedia informs me haunted dancehall can be considered the techno genre's first concept album. i don't have the background knowledge to confirm that; at times i could hear that connection, at other times not. regardless, this album was cool--straight up rad as hell. with creating an album without any vocals, the sabres of paradise did an excellent job distinguishing every song from one another. it wasn't a typical techno album, either. i heard piano tinkering or metal banging sounds. one song sounded like it could've been a theme song for a seventies tv show, another had a reggae influence. a cool, unique electronica album. technically speaking, i'd rank this as 3.5, but i'll round up since i'm considering my enjoyment. as a side note, so rarely do we get an unknown artist with such a cool name for both the artist and the album!

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Mar 18 2024
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4

A really surprising album. I've had to listen to it a few times and it has really grown on me. 70+ minutes of repetetive sounds and rhythms - no vocals.....not what I would have thought I would have liked, but it works....

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Mar 06 2024
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4

Aaa pero super experimentall, interesante escuchar algo distinto... tiene algunos momentos de trance muy lindos, armonias que me encantan, algunas cosas raras, no se como tomarlo como obra o "album" pero valio la pena 100% la escucha

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