Buy it now! It's unreal.

I havent been able to take this out of my CD player for two years.

If you love the high production of Depeche Mode with the softness of Saint Etienne or Portishead, you'll love this album.

The vocals are phenomenal, the arrangements are almost classical in their cleverness and the sounds are fresh and exciting.

Last year while riding through Greenwhich Village in summer, people were coming up to my car and asking me what it was!

That rarely happens...it happened 4 times! in one night.

How Icy Techno Should be Done

I still don't own Goldfrapp's first release "Felt Mountain", so without making any comparisons to their supposedly brilliant debut, I can say that their sophomore effort "Black Cherry" is a wild, bouncy, nuanced techno ride of an album.



The track "Crystalline Green" starts off the affair with lead singer Alison Goldfrapp quipping "Here we go..". Indeed! At first, "Crystalline Green" can sound a little flat coming out of a stereo, but when I played it on my walkman, I was immediately hypnotized and seduced. The swirling synthesizers and moogs snake around Goldfrapp's torpid come-hither voice.



Elsewhere, the keyboard arrangements are layered just as brilliantly. "Train" is a chugging juggernaut; a wall of synth and electric noises accented with Goldfrapp's weird, but commanding lyrics ("Plastic Brain Scar/I want Laser"). "Twist" features a killer chorus ("Twist it around again and again), but it's nasty, lurid and tempting all at once. "Slippage" is much the same way. I'm not too crazy about the slower affairs like "Deep Honey", "Forever" or "Hairy Trees", but they still sound interesting and original.



"Black Cherry" would not succeed as much if the vocal arrangements weren't as alluring as their bristly and gritty soundscape. All in all, "Black Cherry" is an amazing electronic tour de force that commands repeated listens.

Wonderful Electric

I was unsure whether to givethis album 4 or 5 stars, but because the average review was 4.5, I thought I would give it 5, because I am such a fan of Goldfrapp.

The CD begins with 'Crystalline Green', it begins with a simple underground-type rhythm, and branches of to a very unique and original tune, then it is 'Train', which is clearly about Fcuking -- it is the first single, and is very 70's retroish. It peaked at #23 in the UK. (both: 9/10)



Then, it is the second single 'Black Cherry', and is the only slow ballad. It is very emotional.... and a bit of a grower. It peaked at #28 in the UK. The fans favourite (mostly), is Tiptoe, it starts of in an extremely low tone, which I never would have thought would have been Alisons. It is creative and danceable (8.5/10, 9/10 respectively)



The next track, Deep Honey, reminds me of Goldfrapp's 'Deer Stop (Felt Mountain, 2000), it has the same sort of tune for the first two minutes and a half -- a good song though. Thne, it is time for my second favourite track, and most creative and original -- HAIRY TREES. It is seductive and danceable, and I especially like the lyrics "Touch my garden / Rain clouds, Mountains" -- (9/10, 10/10, resp.)



The third single "Twist" (UK - #31), is another 70's dance/retro track. Where I can see her comparsion to Kylie (being the 'Dirty Kylie"), this track is follwed by my favourite (but not by very much) -- STRICT MACHINE. Similarily to Hairy Trees, a lyrical masteriece. Extremely danceable, it peaked at #20 in the UK. (9/10, 10/10 respectively)



Next is the low of the album 'FOREVER', creative, but to a lesser extent to the above tracks. Eight out of ten. Now, you will hear the highly original 'Slippage', it has a tune similarily to the 'Wonderful electric......wonderful electric.....' in Strict Machine. Did I mention it was instrumental and highly original?? I'll give this track nine and a half out of ten.



I like Felt Mountain and Black Cherry evenly, and the only two albums that I like evenly, whilest FM was more Bjorkish, original, and landscape(ible), this release is more danceable and.... yeah. Both of their albums are very seductave, and keep an eye out for their new album, which is coming out very soon. I recommend you purchasde FM before this because of the above reasons, and they are both very very different (Felt Mountain sold 500 000 copies w/w), and I'd also recommend Portishead, and Bjork.



...........and their "Wonderful Electric" DVD is also very good.









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