Strange Cargo III

I often wonder whether albums like this are made for people to actually enjoy....or whether they're made for hi-fi nerds to boast about how great the plinky-plonks sound through their speakers (they sounded awesome through mine)

Man, this started off so promising…Some processed guitar creating an ethereal ambient soundscape. Then like 30 seconds in, forget about that guitar, here’s some hard-panned arpeggiated synth out of nowhere. No build up, just whiplash. This dude killed his own vibe in first minute of the record. I’m gonna try not to let my disappointment at that production choice ruin my listen, but man, William Orbit, you played yourself hard. Could’ve been a good song, if you let it breathe. I get why the generator is recommend this record, I’ve given two Air records 5 stars and this is generally in a similar ball park and might be considered a predecessor, stylistically. There’s something that Air has, though, that William Orbit lacks. Air feels very deliberate, their songs unfold smoothly and don’t try to do too much. These songs on Strange Cargo III are clunky as fuck. …and honestly after the fifth song just started, I’m here thinking “I’ve just heard this one, haven’t I?”. Not a good sign on an hour long, 11 track LP. Maybe I should have taken ecstasy back in the 90’s, perhaps that was the key to unlocking an appreciation for this type of music. I don’t know, but so far, 210 records in, I’ve found the vast majority of 90’s electronica on this list to range anywhere from highly annoying to completely underwhelming. This record falls exactly in the middle of that spectrum. It’s like the worst of both worlds. If it was just annoying, it’d be one thing; I could just turn it off. As it is, there’s enough of a glimmer of “good” to keep me thinking that William Orbit might get it together and turn this into a decent record by the end. Spoiler Alert: He doesn’t.

This feels like background music for a '90s heist movie montage where the tech guy is sneaking into the mainframe to hack all the cameras as a setup to the final heist at the end of the movie.

It’s music, I guess. I’m sure someone likes it

I liked this in a very calm and non-threatening way. There are some nice sounds here. It makes you realise how much this genre needed Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada though.

So then, mood music. Not often my thing, especially this version, which dumbly apes what they think 'peaceful' sounds like without realising that isn't enough to make people feel at peace. Broad brush approaches only creates greater distance from the listener. As with lyrics, specificity is what allows them to grab hold of the song, clamber in and find their own way to those feelings. These sounds are so washed out with generalisations that there's no chance of that.

I was not prepared for how much I would love this album. Like, I thought "oh hahah college raves and video games soundtracks." Then it played and I can't describe how immediately I loved it. Track after track, too. Listened to it twice because I didn't want it to end. So, I guess I should listen to William Orbit more and just let go of the electronica stigma.

In the early 90s I was a DJ at this local, publicly-funded, alternative radio station. Certain songs were in rotation and we had to play those at certain times so that they got played a specific number of times per day. If there was time left before the next required song we could pick out a song of our choice that wasn't in rotation as long as it fit in with the format. Because of this I hated having to play long songs, I wanted the world (or at least the part of Western New York State that was in our small listening area) to hear what amazing taste I had. "Water From a Vine Leaf" the seven minute leadoff track from this album was my bete noire. Now when I listen to it and the rest of "Strange Cargo III," especially on some good headphones I really appreciate it.

Study music

It was a trip listen to it with my eyes closed on my way home back from work. Great tracks overall

Boring

Ambient techno is not something you sit down to listen to. It's something that's on in a hipster coffee house while the surly barista takes your order. This feels like the music that plays over the opening credits of a 90s movie about shady stockbrokers. This album is a chore already. It's hard to focus on the quality of the album because it is designed to be on at a speakeasy as background music. Seriously, this is the score to a movie about computer hackers working against the government until they realize they were being used and were working for the government the whole time and then they take down the rogue agent who ran the whole operation. This is like the alternate soundtrack for the Matrix. Someone has definitely tried to sync this album up to a movie at some point. This is like the Dust Brothers' Fight Club soundtrack if instead of fighting they got high the whole movie and sat around a pretentious club all night. I bet this is Moby's favorite album and, to quote Eminem, he can get stomped by Obie...nobody listens to techno. The Monkey King is in the movie Heat. The whole thing sounds like an demo tape for someone trying to score films. Another album where there is no telling when it ends even when a new album starts on Spotify.

No wonder it’s not available in Apple Music in the US.

Another pleasant surprise, some enjoyable Electronica dance music.

Several Electronica/Ambient albums in this list didn't match my taste. This one is much more to my liking. Nothing excellent or outstanding, but nice and comfortable.

Das pendelt erstmal so rum zwischen ganz interessant (hätte ich damals noch besser gefunden als z.B. Orbital) und zeitlos schlimmer Esoterik. Findet sich dann, nachdem man sich hörbar deutlich bei Andrew Weatherall und The Orb bedient hat aber letztlich in so Ralf Hildenbeutel/Sven Väthschem Ibizasphärengedudel, das damals sicher nicht weh tat, anschließend aber auch nicht gut gealtert ist. Und dann hört man auch schon raus, was er 6 Jahre später auf z.B. Madonnas Ray of Light perfektioniert hat. Naja. So wegweisend finde ich dieses Album jedenfalls nicht. 2,7 reichen völlig aus.

This is okay as background noise for other activities, so I guess 2 stars or D- would be a suitable rating.

"Tonight on music from hearts of space we go on a cosmic joyride with some space music by various bay area artists." - Mystery Science Theater 3000, Pod People This album kind of sucks. 1/5

big ups to rng for giving me a nice softball on my first day. i've already been feeling the more ambient side of dance music recently, ambient techno and chillout and stuff; i've always had a huge soft spot for this sound. i'd sort of assumed this would be a bit more new age-y, maybe take a bit more world music influence, just given the confounding and Mildly Intimidating orientalism on proud display as the front cover, but no, much of it is pretty standard kinda downtempo dance music. very british. Very 90s. i was reminded of, like, Irresistible Force and even Underworld, of all things, a couple of times. every once in a while this thing will slip into a beat that sounds like a Massive Attack instrumental, or something. very british. VERY 90s. ol' mate willy's biggest claim to fame—at least if you're a know-nothing pop dufus, like me—is his production work on Madonna's ray of light. now the title track on that record is like the greatest song of all time, or something. so this guy's some kind of heroic genius, right? we can all agree on that? i was pretty hype, then, to hear his solo work, especially because you just get a feel from the cover that this record is going to be very. very Produced. and that feeling is correct; it's an extremely Produced record. you will, in fact, get to hear production, from the guy that co-produced ray of light. one might argue over-production. if you're a Philistine. a true cur. but i don't believe in such a thing. my brain are huge. and you're are small... okay, well it actually is a little overproduced. Sometimes. so, on my initial listen through, i was extremely on board through the first two tracks. the opener, water from a vine leaf, seems to have been flagged as the standout on the record. it's got the most spotify plays by far, and the terrifying userbase of rym reviewers seem to agree that it's the best. even people that don't like the album agree that it's good. it's followed by into the paradise, which is this real edgy beat that actually evoked nine inch nails in my head, but don't tell anyone i said that or i'll lose my cred and you'll all gut me like the pig i am. i've Seen it. very strong tracks, those two. and then time to get wize comes around and, woof. look, if you're interested in 90s electronica—or man, a Lot of 90s music in general—you've just got to build a pretty high tolerance for its particular brand of cheese and corn. i Have a really high tolerance, but the spoken word bit on this track is... So much. i just had to kind of scoff and roll my eyes. i tried not to. it felt mean. it's not even that bad, i guess it just hit me like a truck for whatever reason. wasn't ready. it's so corny dude. oh god. i found the next track kind of so-so as well; i was, like, fully slipping out of the album at this point, but it does actually pick back up. in fact i really like the rest of the album! i'm particularly fond of all the atmospheric bits leading up to and away from the actual beats, it's a strong structure that's on full display with best friend, paranoia, one of my favorites. it starts out with this excellent, purely ambient synthwork that i so selfishly wish could just go on forever, and slides into a really nice beat and a far more evocative use of vocals than get wize. the last three tracks are also among my favorites, definitely the ones least beholden to a traditional dance structure. the most ambient and experimental the record gets, for sure. deus ex machina is very appealing to my aesthetic sensibilities; i actually really love that track. and water babies sounds like a track off the spyro the dragon (1998 psx) ost. so that's cool... man, my comparisons are fucking wack. anyway, yea! pretty good stuff! you can probably tell just from the Cover whether this is your kind of thing or not. it's definitely mine. i imagine i'll spin this quite a few times, and a lot of the tracks are definitely great for playlists and mixes. i'll have to look into more of this guy's stuff. Pieces in a Modern Style seems pretty intriguing, and i definitely need to hear his pop production work i haven't gotten around to yet. that all saints record looks pretty cool!

This is a more engaging record than most ambient ones we've had. The spoken word on "Time To Get Wize" was unexpected, and I liked it. Everything about this song is good. "The Story of Light" may be my favorite one yet. There are some vocals in the middle that sound a little like Grimes in "California". This album rocked. I haven't been too positive about our other ambient albums, but this one had something more to it. The songs were great to have on in the background, but also would catch your attention here and there. Very enjoyable sound almost the entire way through. I didn't track the individual songs too well, but I didn't have any I wanted to skip past. An hour is usually far too long of a run-time for me, but it's OK and maybe even desirable for an ambient album that I can leave on harmlessly to background whatever I'm up. 9/10

Before Fatboy Slim, before The Chemical Brothers, there was William Orbit. 9/10

I’m… at a 5, I think? This is gonna be a weird one, because I’m still not ultimately sure. Let’s just say I had a unique experience with this album. Normally, I try to listen when my brain is fully attentive, fully awake, and not prone to any kind of “sleepiness” factor. So, for whatever reason, I decided to listen to this one slightly attentive, slightly awake, and decently prone to a “sleepiness” factor. The results are… kind of incredible, really. Years ago, I read that Salvador Dali would sometimes sleep with a key in his hand, his head laid back, and whenever he did fall asleep, he would drop the key onto a metal plate, making a sound loud enough to wake him up pretty much instantly, and spark his creativity with whatever image his brain had conjured up in those fleeting moments. I’ve always thought the story was fair, but a bit exaggerated; surely, you can’t have the brain produce that sort of thing in fleeting moments of lucid awareness, right? This album did that. It did that in a way that I’m not sure I fully comprehend, and I feel like I didn’t experience the album the “correct” way because of it. I’m also not sure that matters. I found myself closing my eyes to try and just feel the vibe of each track, for a lot of the early tracks. I do it decently often; there are portions of entire albums I’ve listened to with my eyes closed just to really enhance the emotions & the atmosphere. For this album, for whatever reason, instead of drifting into my focused zen state, I found myself melting into something decently close to sleep, especially starting around the end of Track 5 leading into Track 6, and from that point onward, I think I felt that sort of Dali effect click for me. This album’s sound design works in such a way where if you do try to find that zen state, and get sort of lost in it like I did, there’s always something around the corner to sort of shake you out of it, whether it’s sound effects, vocal moments, percussive drops, extra instrumentation coming in hot to change the vibe of the track, and more. Those moments were my equivalent to Dali dropping his key and “waking up”, and my brain was conjuring up weird, weird images of things that didn’t exist, yet felt like they could exist in reality. My brain is more attuned to these sorts of soundscapes as video game music, so naturally, I was thinking of stuff like indie puzzle games, weird horror stuff, vague RPG overtones – realistically, a lot of this is because I played part of Chapter 3 of Deltarune earlier today, so my subconscious was working overtime, I think. Beyond that though, there were pixel explosions of stars, sudden jumpscares, perspective shifts… lots of stuff that feels distantly lost, but stuff that I wouldn’t have really thought up without this album’s soundscape as the backdrop to inspire it. Of course, I never actually fell asleep. If I had fallen asleep, I wouldn’t have been writing notes about each track while listening, including bits & pieces of other stuff my brain came up with. Never revealing those, though. It’s the closest I’ve come to experiencing something like lucid dreaming, and while I’m not sure that’s the vibe this album was going for… it might be one hell of a tool for that sort of thing. So, yes, I suppose my recommendation for this album is to use it as a soundscape to dream to, once it gets into its more ambient stuff over the course of the last 36-ish minutes of the album. How about those first 27, though? I liked it; less easy to zone out to, but they’re all pretty good, especially with “Water From a Vine Leaf” as an opener. Genuinely, I need to relisten to this when I’m not on the verge of falling asleep – realistically, though, I could’ve stopped at any time on this initial half-asleep listen, because I was very actively aware of it. I chose to stay in it, because I was enjoying it, perhaps a bit too much. There is a non-zero chance this album was designed for this sort of thing, and if so… good on you, William Orbit. I’m gonna give this a 5, as crazy as it feels. I do think I would’ve given it at least a 4 regardless, just because it kept me oddly captivated in a way similar to “Playing With Fire”, but in a more potent & truly ambient way. All I know is, I really liked listening to this one, via whatever strange reasons emerged. P.S.: I promise I wasn’t on drugs. If anything, I think I probably just experienced what it’s like to be high for the first time, somehow via a potent tiredness, a strong imagination, & ambient music. Maybe that’s all it takes.

Had no clue what to expect coming in to this one but really dug it. Wild blends of percussion and electronic effects, and vocals used sparingly, but effectively. Wild and weird stuff. Listened to: at metrotech. Favorite tracks: Water From A Vine Leaf, Gringatcho Demento

If any album summed up the late 80's/early 90s in the UK this would be it. Love the production on this, and while it is typical of the time, it somehow manages not to sound dated. A great follow-on from William Orbit's more commercial Bassomatic stuff. Definitely a 5 from me.

This was brilliant. Best chill out I've had in ages.

funky and interesting electronica album.

Groovy spacey wildly interesting arrangements and production techniques. Maybe it’s just because I didn’t know what to expect but I loved this album.

fire

I love ambient music. It's such a chill experience. It lowers the pulse and makes everything feel calm. This is pioneering work, along with Brian Eno.

I was hooked

I very much enjoyed this. Earlier than I was expecting, from William Orbit. Some other comments on here about how it sounds great on good headphones, or high-end speakers. Can confirm.

This is a great instrumental album that spans a number of genres but is also definitively ‘80s. Definitely worth repeat listens.

beauty..... there is beauty in everythingg... mahtavaa elektro kikkailua! perjantai-iltaa.. kamalaaa.. parantaa hiukan... se jo hirmutyö... Jag ville träffa Annel För jag visste att den fortfarande letade efter mig Livet gav inte mycket Regnbågen slutade vid godiskiosken De som kräktes vid restaurangbordet blev utskrattade.... Jag ska till Norra Karelen Jag byter jeans till träningsbyxor Hem till Norra Karelen Jag dricker kalya tills solen går upp... joka paikkaan sattuu... ai vittu... erityisesti päähän... oispa kuuro... noh heh... ehkä ei tarvi... into the paradise

Gorgeous and atmospheric.

A relatively different genre, love it. From people's comments I think this one has no lyrics. Electronica seems fun, plus Spotify takes the music as trip hop and down tempo, which are really good to me. Just yesterday I was listening to aphex twin's one album on repeat while reading a book, basically the album is book's soundtrack and this album makes me feel like it could be some book's soundtrack too, just it's short, but in this case that's good, I don't like spending 2 hours rating each song. First song, it was quiet and when I started writing the beat came in and it sounds so good on laptop, it'd be so much better in headphones. Ouuuu the beat came in, love iiit already. Oh nevermind, this is the most listened track on the album, it'll get worse, I thought otherwise. It's progressing in the electronic sense. Oh someone's talking, one guy said it's his girlfriend. Just put my headphones on and it's SO MUCH BETTER. Nah the sound is so playful to my ears. This song isn't annoying that it's long. One of the best things is, he changes the vibe quickly while maintaining a same aura, cool as fuck. It's fading away like expected. Second song, amazing guitar start I'm hooooked. There's no lyrics in Spotify, but he talked a little. AAAAAAH THE BEAAAAT I LOVE THIS MAN. It's so dancey and gothy. This is what I mean by good down tempo and trip hop. Feels like Portishead plus there's this woman vocalising. THE BASSSS MY GOD. I want this on speakers immediatelyyy, someone said, did he made this album for someone to flex their speakers and now I totally get it. I feel digitalised with these new sounds. He worked with Madonna on MDNA, love that album, NO WAY RAY OF LIGHT TOO? THAT ALBUM HAS THIS ONE'S VIBE LITERALLY, I love this man too much now. Katie Melua, he produced her album, she's Georgian and IM FUCKING GEORGIAN WTF. He is connected to me like that and I just found out, this is more than a 5 star album already, I'm spiritually connected. Shit I was distracted to listen to the song with full attention, but I loooved it. Third song, a little piano I see, with electronic beats in the background. Ohh his voice for the first time. This one's more chill. It's kinda jazzy. What's wize tho? He has a good voice, addicting. He's not singing tho, just talking kinda fast. Forgot to say I looove the album art, it's different and caught my attention the first time I saw it, it's too unforgettable yk. The piano is the best part. Smn said they play this kinda songs during heist stealing, but in a bad way, and I see it, though it doesn't make it bad for me. Wish songs transitioned tho. 4th song, it's eerie already. Ooooo the bass came in. Kinda basic, nevermind the violins and piano made it better. This one's more romantic than dancey and cunty as before. Oh vibe fully changed, feels like a movie scene, too lazy to come up with one. Aaand it started all again. This was quite short, and loved it less, but still good. 5th song, a much better start than the last song, feels like a medical series start, in a good way. It's giving nightclub in its way now. Woman is talking, seductively I think. There is men screaming for one second and then vocalising for a little time on repeat. There was no sonical plot twist, NEVERMIND IT SLOWLY GOT SLOW. It's giving loftr somehow. 6th song, ambient start. Alien sounds. Piano is playing with pauses. I'm gonna continue this tomorrow, because it's night now and I have to charge my headphones, tomorrow tho I can have it on full volume to fully experience the songs. I'm back. Started this one again, and amazing beat drop like ma god. The vocals are quite good too. It's so repetitive, but somehow in the best way possible. Beat was gone was for some time and now it's back in business. Same happened and only piano is playing with ambient sounds in the background. It's guitar now and it's getting kinda louder, but also fading away. Loved this one too. 7th song, loud and noisy start. Ambient sound is over surfacing the noise. Weird instrument is playing and there's no beat that backs it up. Russian guy talking I think. Beat came, but kinda blandly. Russian woman talking now. Melting my brain with those alien sounds wtff, in a good way tho. It's rocky now with that electric guitar. The beat opened after guitar finished and that was too satisfying. Spanish woman now slayy, she's the best part of the song tbh, cunty and girlboss vibes she brought with that lyrical delivery. The overall vibe changes a lot in one song and I love that, like now it's slow and some kind of a piano is playing. Drums? Ohhh it's tropical now, water sounds and all too. It was afro beat for a second there I think. Shit now it's rock again‽ It's getting progressive and now faded away. Too much for one song if you ask me. 8th song, slow start, but clear sounds. It's kinda sad. Oooh definitely sad with that piano. This man can do production too well I'm afraid. Ohh the beat is unexpectedly fast and dancey, but also alien-like. Now it's Arabic with a glimpse of jazzyness. Ambientness came back. This is a whole adventure goddamn. It's giving mission impossible now. Different type of piano is playing. I'm transcending, this needs lyrics immediately, but also they would ruin the general goodness of all of this. From sad to dancey again, basically same genre bending happened now too, I expect Arabic now. It's afro beat drums rn. It's rare when I fully explain what happens in the song, but this is too fun not to do it. 9th song, quite a short song for him tbh. It's ambient with some snapping once in a while. Makes me feel like I'm in water. Idk why but this sounds makes me feel like some sword is shinning. Ooo the beat and Camelot woman is talking. It's giving Patti Smith in those experimental poetry sessions, Medea is one of the songs if I remember correctly. Arabic woman vocalising, at least that's how I hear it. Rather short, if there were more talking of that women I'd like the song more. 10th song, ambient start as expected. It's giving underground. Some experimental sounds randomly appearing. Omg I zoned out and this villainy sound started playing and It snapped me back, it feels like a monkey king is the final boss. There are African men saying something in the background and then women also saying smth after it, but they all sound weird. There was no beat drop here, unless when I zoned out it happened then. 11th song, fully different start, no ambient sound just some instrument. There are water sounds in the background, that's the one I can name others are random and weird in a good way. French talking I think I hear of a woman. There was a familiar instrument dunno the name in English tho. Without the beat it's so Aphex Twin, plus it's eerie. Bitch what what is retchie doing here someone said and then there was some exploding sounds, loved that, wondering where is it from. There's a weird beat in my right ear, makes me think of a tongue. Giving Sophie now, almost like ship sounds and it suddenly stopped. This was the weirdest one by far I think. 12th song, veeery short. It got a happy sound, movie is finishing. Dunno how he chose the names for the songs tho. It has piano in it, that's the one I can name lol. There are different sounds all at once if you pay attention. This one was also not as good as it should have been, the dancey beat is missing and it's making the vibe go bad. Overall it was a good finish up of the album tho I must say. I already said this is more than just a 5 star album because of the artist. Not gonna repeat all that tho. Each song was a new adventure and I expected so much less at first, but I was already happy it was electronica, trip hop and down tempo, and I've just gotten into ambient sounds, this might be my next book's soundtrack. Need more albums like this, but I need a little break from just instrumental sounds and need more lyrics.

This is making it into my rotation, 100%. LOVED it.

(Voiceover) Imagine a world where time drifts slowly. A world where music carries you away. Experience Pure Moods, the perfect soundtrack for your way of life. Direct from Europe, this multi-platinum collection has won the hearts of millions. Set adrift with the timeless pleasures of Water From a Vine Leaf. Or take a trip into the unknown with Deus Ex Machina. No other collection gives you the feeling of Pure Moods. (Lyrics) Hey yaiiiiy hiiiiiiii ohhhhhAAIIIIII HWAIIIAAY YA

I must admit I thought this was Orbital at first. Same but different. Anyway, I totally got into this album, right up my alley. Faves: Water From A Vine Leaf, Into The Paradise, A Touch Of The Night

Ambient enough to use as background noise but interesting enough to pay attention to as a stand alone experience. Great working/study music

Muy buen disco. Una de las pocas músicas ambientales que escucharía genuinamente.

What an awesome surprise this album has been! I wasn't sure what to anticipate with no knowledge of this artist at all, but I’m thoroughly impressed. As a fan of instrumental music, I'm happy to incorporate this album into my rotation and explore William Orbit's work. After listening to the first few tracks, I thought the sound reminded me of some of Madonna's work in the 90's. Turns out, he worked with her in that era. How interesting! Replay: "Water From a Vine Leaf," "Time to Get Wize," "Gringatcho Demento," and honestly almost every track from this album. Skip: "Deus Ex Machina"

Excellent! Inspiring. Really loved this.

Favorites: Water from a Vine Leaf, A Touch of the Night, Gringatcho Demento. Excellent mostly non-vocal trance.

really enjoyed the whole album

It's pretty great. I liked Water from a Vine Leaf, Time to Get Wise, The Story of Light, and many others.

When I first listened, I was a bit distracted trying to focus on other tasks at the same time. I liked what I had heard, but did I love it? I don't know, I needed a second listen. On second listen, it was much more clear...Love it is.

I listened to this at work and started it over as soon as it finished. Very pleasant background music. I listened again during my walking/bus commute and was pleased that it held up in that context as well. Some tracks are a mellow dance groove, some are gentle and floaty, some are noisy but with a thumping bass line. I can hear some of you asking, how much electronica do we need? And I say, lots!

Fabulous electronic music. Loved the groove.

Awesome album . loved it very much

I guess this is my jam. Never heard this before, but this is the kind of music that just fits a perfect night of thinking or working or chilling. An ambient, trancey vibe that doesn't stick itself out to far, but are all smooth and cool.

Super good electro!!

Me encantó, todas sus canciones encajan de excelente manera

Amazingly beautiful

Trippy af

This is what I came here for.

COOL

Really good but he absolutely blue balled me with those first two songs, my expectations were set at Groove Armada style bang fest but it was more of a freaky experimental electronic exploration - not saying I didn't enjoy the journey but I think the first couple of songs would've been better placed dispersed throughout rather than as false expectation setters at the start. GIVE ME MORE BANGERS, WILLIAM

Wow! Great stuff!

skemmtilegt að studera þennan gaur

I am here for William and his Strange melodies. Brian Eno-esque in all the right ways, with a little bit of world music vocals and groovy Thievery Corporation beats.

Excelente disco! El primer 5!! Aca esta la base del lo que fue ese tremendo disco de Madonna, Ray of Ligth.

I love 90s electronica

chingón!!!

Cool electronic sound. Actually listened to it twice.

Great work music, love it

interesting electronic grooves

Liked it.

4/5

As background work music goes, this is pretty top notch.

"Water from a vine leaf" is my favorite on this one since it opened the album in such a cool way and I just absolutely loved it. My second fav is "time to get wise". This whole album is so unique to listen to, it's right up my alley. I love more musically complex albums that lean away from lyrics and show off their musical talent. This might be one of my favorite albums that I've heard on here so far, just since I love the sound of the music and how unique this is.

I like this one, cool vibe, sounds fantastic. Not a sing along album, of course, and for me music in this genre tends to kind of blend into the background, which makes this one pretty good if that's what I'm looking for.

I love William Orbit. The ambient scene of the early 90's was one of the many genres i got into, Bassomatic were excellent and then i came across his solo stuff and I bought this album when it came out. It would be a 5 star all day long if the album finished half way through. 'Water From A Vine Leaf' is such a laid back beautiful tune, like all of the first half. If you weren't going 'heeeyyy nowuwowa' through the story of light then their is something wrong with you, or maybe something wrong with me depending on your perspective. Then the second half of the album begins with 'Gringatcho Demento' and the whole vibe changes, whether its supposed to as some sort of theme for the album, I don't know but it jarrs with me. It finishes with the dreamy 'Water Babies' reprise and the chilled mood is back. So when I stick this on at least once or twice a year, I tend to listen to the first half. So if I'm going to rate this as a whole, its got to be a 4 star due to the reasons stated.

Great album that encapsulates the vibe and feeling of electronic music in 1993. Sounds like a mix of '90s spy movie soundtrack with a Southeast Asian backdrop. Pretty cool.

Y'know, I believe I might be thinking too hard about this album. I've made two attempts so far to try and find a frame through which to discuss this album. FIrst, I tried discussing how this kind of ambient techno is one of those genres I consider generally difficult to talk about, alongside jazz, rap and singer-songwriter folk. Then, I tried making a case where ambient electronica exists in a weird middle pocket between the two halves of its name, where it's hard for it to get any respect as a result. In both cases, I was only able to get so far in (maybe a paragraph or two) before I quickly lost confidence in the direction I was taking and ran out of words. Each time, it was all because of the nagging voice in the back of my head wondering, "Does an album like this really **need** this level of thought?" That might seem like an insulting question on the surface: implying the music on the album is very surface level and doesn't warrant taking the time to consider any deeper thoughts. Y'know, that it'd be a waste of time to try and think of it as any more than what's plainly there to see. "What you see is what you get and all." And, true, there are aspects of this you could probably consider, mostly in regards to where its worldly influences stem from. But, you also have to keep in mind: this is an ambient record. A **very** ambient record. Not to the point where it's music for airports, but I think on some level, it's expected that you're not supposed to think about it that hard. You're supposed to kind of just... Zone out to it. To let it score whatever thoughts happen to drift into your head as you're listening to it. To induce some kind of zen state. And I get why, to a lot of people, that would automatically ding this as a bad record. It's like, as much as jazz, rap and singer-songwriter folk can all be hard to talk about, at least there's complexities inherent in their genres that make them worth thinking and talking about. Meanwhile, I imagine to a lot of people an album like this would either not ambient enough for their tastes, or not electronica enough: it's not danceable enough to be electronica, and there might be too much going on for it to be pure ambient. It seems like a contradiction. But is it? I've seen people compare the music on this album to film scores — mostly in a negative way, to say it sounds like it should be underscoring a scene from a bad 90's techno thriller. But... I don't think thinking of it as a score is inherently the wrong way to go about it? 'Coz if you tell me that this sounds like a film score, then I'm interested in letting the music paint a picture of what this film could possibly look like. Or, y'know, there's video game soundtracks: music meant to accentuate what you're doing, and does have its own unique stuff going on within it, but never means to fully distract you. And that honestly seems about what this album is aiming for. I mean, what's wrong with music that's just meant to make the air around you a little less empty? And, just as well, wants to have a little more going on than just a few tape loops? I am absolutely not the kind of person who's gonna hate on an album for being wallpaper, so... I mean, maybe that's not a convincing argument. And maybe it's too ramble-y to be convincing anyway — I'unno. But it's like, taking a step back and looking at this album from afar, that's honestly what I see. If nothing else, it's music to make your life a little less quiet. And I dig it, honestly — I think it's a good sound, and it makes me curious to hear how this style was applied to pop music over on Madonna's RAY OF LIGHT album. It's chill, it's zen... I don't think I could ask any more of this thing. And certainly, it made the dusting I did while I was listening to it less boring. So, y'know what: it gets a pass from me. It's good. It's not absolutely astounding; I know several other records I'd probably reach for as sound filler before this one. But it'd be a very worthwhile pick if I **did** choose it. And that ain't cargo too strange, I don't think.

I may just be a sucker for the more ambient side of electronic music, but I dug this one a good amount. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

What the fuck? Why is this so good? BECAUSE IT IS. THAT'S WHY!!!

Smooth, good music.

I am such a sucker for this video game / DVD screen / on hold / ambient stuff.

I don't know if it's because I like video game soundtracks or just because I work in an office where the music helps me focus, but Electronica is a genre that's really grown on me. This had some lulls, but was pretty good.

Gar nicht schlecht

7/10 - it kind of reminded me of Minecraft music. It was pretty relaxing most of the time and I would listen to this again while studying or something

I always enjoy an instrumental album, particularly ethereal electronic music and this is once I will revisit.

Some of these songs are exactly what I would want to listen to while coming down from a shroom trip....others I would want to listen to while coming up on a DMT trip

Not on AM so to youtube music it is. Couple songs in and I am grooving. Love how the beat just keeps building up on Into the Paradise. Made me feel like I was on psychs so major points for that.

Funky instrumental with some cool SFX and samples.

Some Strange Cargo indeed, not sure what I was expecting from the cover or the wikipedia summary but it was still a incredibly laid back and enjoyable hour of music. It may be a bit too passive or for the lack of a better term 'video gamey' for some (there were some tracks where I was expecting to start hearing the UNATCO theme or some shit) but this was definitely something I see myself coming back to in the future

Evocative of the music that would be playing in some thriller from 1997 in a scene where the main character goes to some weird sex freak nightclub where everyone has UV face paint and are doing some made up future drug that makes you go insane and eat your own legs. I liked it.

9/10

I'm not sure this is really a 4 star album but it was perfect background for my paper editing session. It's rare I enjoy an electronica album

Cool chill trance/ambient music.

Not usually much of an electronic guy, but I dig this record. Really subtle and calm grooves that are very engaging.

I've listened to other albums by this artist and in general it's relatively interesting ambient music with clear techno influences. This album fits neatly into that paradigm. Good atmospheric music without being formless.

gorgeous especially when highhhh

I'll be honest, I didn't have much expectation for this, but it was pretty great. Standouts: "Time to Get Wize" & "Best Friend, Paranoia,"

people were hating on this, but i personally really enjoyed the departure from the entirely predictable stuff that mostly is on this list. this was an awesome album to listen to as i navigated a snowstorm, and it’s a fun prelude to some of my favorite ambient artists to follow. i’m glad i listened to it

Hard to rate this. I would never put this on for pure enjoyment or a car trip, but it was pretty great to work to this morning and definitely went on my "Concentration" play list. By my own rules that's a 4 or 5, think I'll make this a 4 since "it distracts some parts of my brain without distracting others" seems like faint praise.

I liked this - good background music

Excellent!

Really interesting

Really good Loved techno bass