the eyes of stanley pain

It took me awhile to get into The Eyes of Stanley Pain (which we added today, along with two additional subsequent Download releases). At that time in my life I was listening to a lot of metal and industrial and had little interest in other types of electronic music. This album was one of a handful of albums during the mid 90’s that changed all that for me.

Listening to it now, it probably wasn’t as much of a stretch as it seemed at the time. There are still distorted voices, aggressive beats and noisy synths, but something about it just seemed different. Maybe it was just that it was more minimal at points and at others more complex than what I was used to, or the vocals were more like textures in the tapestry than lyrics to songs. Whatever the reason, after my initial dislike for the album I found myself entranced.

Along with albums like Aphex Twin’s I Care Because You Do, The Prodigy’s Music for a Jilted Generation and Underworld’s Second Toughest in the Infants, Stanley Pain helped pave the way for a much greater appreciation of the potential of electronic music.

III is probably a better place for minimal and experimental techno heads to start though, as I remember it being orders more subdued and accessible.

Also of note for me today is a fairly recent EP by Drum & Bass duo Logistics (although on my first listen nothing really jumped out at me) and the debut release of IDM/minimal act Lusine (which I am excited about as Podgelism was one of my first eMusic discoveries upon starting my tenure here).