List | E | 808 State | 'ex:el' CD 1991

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	San Fransisco	4:56
2.	Spanish Heart	3:51
3.	Leo Leo	4:01
4.	Q-Mart	4:58
5.	Nephatiti	4:49
6.	Lift	5:13
7.	Ooops	4:41
8.	Empire	4:21
9.	In Yer Face	5:12
10.	Cübik	3:18
11.	Lambrusco Cowboy	4:05
12.	Techno Bell	4:56
13.	Olympic	4:21
	Total	58:42

Comments:

This is British techno. No, not that cheap, bad disco crap stuff that's so immensely popular these days without anyone really knowing why, but real techno. Sounding sometimes somewhat hard and often quite disharmonic, and with rather innovative beats, these Manchester lads make their very own brand of techno. Quite often they even play themselves - with their hands! It's not all sequenced, y'know.

This is not their first album, but it's the first I have, anyway. I bought it mainly for the very catchy 'In Yer Face'; a tune I could dance myself to death to. Too bad I haven't found it on CD single, though. Later I discovered other highlights as well: 'Spanish Heart' (which sounds a lot like a New Order tune with an edge, largely due to the fact that Bernard Sumner of that Manchester band is doing the vocals), 'Ooops' & 'Q-Mart' (where Icelandic vocalist Björk semi-improvises), and instrumental tunes 'Nephatiti' & 'Lift'. Great stuff. Come to think of it, I guess it's only 'Leo Leo' that I don't like.

It took me a while to get into this kind of music, since it's quite different from almost everything else I've ever heard. Sometimes it's even jazzy. (Techno jazz?) Now that I'm accustomed to it, I like it a lot. Somehow, whenever I play this album nowadays I come to think of many late nights downtown when I'm freezing my butt off at a bus stop. I used to listen a lot to this album my first year in this town, and I had to commute since I lived a bit 'off campus'. Now I live a lot closer.

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