Infusion's debut album, first released in mid-2001 on Thunk Recordings. It's kinda hard to fit into just one genre, but most of the album could probably be considered house, with some trip-hop, dance, and dub mixed in. Closer to Underworld's earlier stuff than anything else, but there's elements of Orbital, Chemical Brothers, and Leftfield in there. It's quite refreshing to find something like this with all the un-original dance music coming out at the moment. This is, I think, the finest album of electronica I've ever bought. If you're into electronic music at all, you need this album.
I should probably also mention that this is one of the CDs I have bought as a direct result of mp3.
- what lies ahead
House-y, but also reminds me of Mike Oldfield's Tubular bells, with the recurring bell noises at the start of the track. There's a hint of 80's synth pop in there, as well.
- starwater, it's alright
"infinite, the sky is wide, burstin' gently, deep inside..."
Nice piano and lyrics on this one. There's an excellent brushed breakbeat lurking somewhere in the distance, but it doesn't spoil anything.
- spike
"someone will see to it that the questions remain questions, getting lost amongst the crowd and the noise."
Not the thumping drum'n'bass one you might have heard before. Would sound perfectly at home on the soundtrack of a spy movie, with the siren noises and general feel of urgency.
- on the outside
Hmm... techno? Doof doof backbeat (to begin with, anyway), excellent synth work to generate the background noises
- spike morse mix
"all the answers were in today's paper, behind the phrases and numbers... numbers..."
Yep, just a remix of Spike. A bit faster, concentrates on the "swelling" noises and lyrics more than the original.
- frostbite
Another tubular-bells-esque track. Quite relaxed, with piano/bells/flute combo making up most background and a guitar taking the foreground. Builds up later on in the track, with what sounds like a bass guitar, and then the drums kick in for the last few minutes, before fading out with the flute again.
- legacy
"synaesthesia, coloured blue... aquaman knows what to do, to do..."
Memories of childhood? Another nice downtempo number, with a progressive beginning and some goddamn excellent vocals and flute work. One of the best songs on the album.
- smokescreen incident
"angle of incidence, smokescreens, encrypted, pneumonics. repeat..."
The first half of the track starts out a lot like the Propellerheads' Spybreak!, before switching to an interesting synthesised piece that pans quickly across the left/right channels. Some violin in there, too.
- isbn 666
"there seems to be some distortion in this new amplifier."
Very dancey, this one, with the initial beat progressing into a breakbeat, before panning across the speakers and changing entirely into what sounds like a distorted violin/303 and strange vocal samples. Cool, though.
- meant to be
"speak your mind and tell me something... are we meant to... be together?"
My new favourite trip-hop song, if that's the right genre for it. Starts off with a simple breakbeat, adds some background vocals (in Italian or something), some bass guitar, and a piano lurking in the background. Not a love song, I don't think. Maybe the guy is questioning his relationship? Anyway, it's the best track on the album by far. Excellent music, excellent vocals; what more could you ask for? (apart from an extra couple of minutes of it)
Infusion are: Jamie Stevens, Manuel Sharrad, and Frank Xavier.
Vocals by Manuel Sharrad, except for tracks 3, 5, and 8.
Of course, you don't have to believe me. Thunk have a page on their site with a few more reviews and some (unfortunately short) samples from the album:
http://www.thunkrecordings.com/tr016cd/
(it's Flash based, if that worries you at all. It might.)