Heartbeat

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EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 11   Total Length: 40:14

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Drew Daniel (Matmos)

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
The dystopian twin to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
1981 | Label: Conspiracy International / state51

Their debut album for Rough Trade in 1981 after Throbbing Gristle's mission was terminated, this record marries Cosey's trademark woozy cornet to Chris Carter's sleek sequencing, and the result is entrancing and unsettling in equal measure, blowing hot and cool past both industrial bombast and synth-pop tinsel. Martin feels that this ought to be enshrined in music history as one of the first proper "techno" records. The brilliantly clipped "found" vocals (an '80s-style tic that went limp in lesser hands) on "Put Yourself in Los Angeles" will nag at you like a repressed memory, and it is moves like these that make this record a kind of dystopian twin to Byrne/Eno circa My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Truly an underrated gem.

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Amazing

Gabelstapler

Can't believe I never knew about this one "back in the day". It is really a mean little masterpiece.

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