Public Service Broadcasting:
The Race For Space:
Test Card Recordings:
CD/LP (various sleeve/colour combinations)/DD:
Out Feb 27th:
★★★★★★★★★★
We have lift-off! After what seems like an age, retro-futurist samplegeeks Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth have finally armed themselves with new material which may, if nothing else, expand and extend their live sets somewhat. More importantly, it will expand your musical mind and ensure Public Service Broadcasting's longevity for a while yet.
Eschewing tweeds for spacesuits, the duo present something nearing a concept album without the need for making mawkish cheesy music. The Race For Space is that rare thing - a second album way better than its preceding debut.
Beginning with archived commentary from various space missions and a haunting beatless backdrop, the title-track gradually unfolds and germinates the epic Sputnik, itself a slow-building behemoth that recalls R&S ambient-house project Biosphere circa-Microgravity or The Orb spinning uncontrollably through their Ultraworld period.
If the first ten minutes of this journey doesn't trigger some sort of tingling in your loins, there's always the brassy extravagance of the gregarious Gagarin to bring the party to the launchpad. If Earth Wind and Fire reformed to soundtrack the Apollo expeditions, they might have got somewhere close to this. The accompanying promo film for Gagarin recalls the recent choreographic triumphs of those nifty Jungle videos (The Heat, Platoon etc), and is as refreshingly far from pretension as you could wish to be.
A serious air descends during the somewhat mournful Fire In The Cockpit, an actual event that soured the inaugural Apollo mission in 1967 while The Other Side represents the more successful side of those inspiring trips to the moon. There's even a slight doff of the cap towards Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on closer Tomorrow - as the track fades back in after five minutes or so, the ambient kings' own Apollo album is given a respectful homage (intentionally or not).
In contrast to PSB's lively debut Inform Educate Entertain, follow-up The Race For Space is an altogether more reflective and wide-eyed experience that isn't without its 'hits' - Gagarin and the pounding dramatic Go! spring to mind - but demands to be played repeatedly from end to end.
It's not an album to dip into. With absolutely no filler, The Race For Space is an entity, a seamless pulsating voyage, a euphoric lunar music-mission and, above all, fun.
The Race For Space:
Test Card Recordings:
CD/LP (various sleeve/colour combinations)/DD:
Out Feb 27th:
★★★★★★★★★★
Eschewing tweeds for spacesuits, the duo present something nearing a concept album without the need for making mawkish cheesy music. The Race For Space is that rare thing - a second album way better than its preceding debut.
Beginning with archived commentary from various space missions and a haunting beatless backdrop, the title-track gradually unfolds and germinates the epic Sputnik, itself a slow-building behemoth that recalls R&S ambient-house project Biosphere circa-Microgravity or The Orb spinning uncontrollably through their Ultraworld period.
If the first ten minutes of this journey doesn't trigger some sort of tingling in your loins, there's always the brassy extravagance of the gregarious Gagarin to bring the party to the launchpad. If Earth Wind and Fire reformed to soundtrack the Apollo expeditions, they might have got somewhere close to this. The accompanying promo film for Gagarin recalls the recent choreographic triumphs of those nifty Jungle videos (The Heat, Platoon etc), and is as refreshingly far from pretension as you could wish to be.
In contrast to PSB's lively debut Inform Educate Entertain, follow-up The Race For Space is an altogether more reflective and wide-eyed experience that isn't without its 'hits' - Gagarin and the pounding dramatic Go! spring to mind - but demands to be played repeatedly from end to end.
It's not an album to dip into. With absolutely no filler, The Race For Space is an entity, a seamless pulsating voyage, a euphoric lunar music-mission and, above all, fun.