Electronic albums play a huge role in my fascination with music. For me, synthesizers and drum machines aren’t better or worse than live drums and guitars. They’re just different. They make music much more imaginative for me. I think Nick Rhodes’ synth parts on those early Duran Duran albums were some of my first loves. Shimmery one moment, jarring the next. Rhodes’ keyboard flourishes changed the complexion of every song. This month, I’m featuring my Top 15 electronic albums along with one featured track.
Album: The Saint Soundtrack (1996)
There may not be another soundtrack with as unified a vision as The Saint’s. The album was nearly all-electronic by design, featuring Orbital, Moby, The Chemical Brothers as well as lesser electronic-inclined artists like David Bowie and Duncan Sheik. The album, as a whole, jacks up its collection of musical notes on steroids. I’ve already paid homage to Bowie’s “Dead Man Walking” in an earlier post on Mental Jukebox, so this time I’ll go with the frenetic, relentless “Pearl’s Girl” from electronic masters Underworld.
“Pearl’s Girl” comes at you in attack mode, swarming your ears from every angle like a helicopter raid. It even sounds like a fleet of helicopters are hovering over the track from beginning to end. The drums are like machine guns, loading and reloading and unleashing, while the samples take over like brainwashing devices. Ever have one of those days where you just need to let it all out? Turning up “Pearl’s Girl” at full blast might help with that.