Formica Blues [Import]

Formica Blues [Import]

Track Listings

1. Life In Mono

2. Silicone

3. Slimcea Girl

4. Outsider

5. Disney Town

6. Blind Man

7. High Life

8. Playboys

9. Penguin Freud

10. Hello Cleveland!

11. Life In Mono (Hope Mix)

12. Silicone (Winchester Club

13. Slimcea Girl (Fat Boy Voc

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track and Alternate Cover Art.

Tracks:

Life in Mono
Silicone
Slimcea Girl
The Outsider
Disney Town
The Blind Man
High Life
Playboys
Penguin Freud
Hello Cleveland!
Life in Mono (Alice Band Mix)

Amazon.com

Steeped in placid, retro innocence, the updated sounds of Mono may have you nostalgic for pastel plaid patterns in a tripped-up Brady Bunch groove. Nonetheless, Formica Blues offers plenty of modern tricks that won't leave you hanging on the dance floor reaching for your platform shoes. Oscillating between current trip-hop standards and blameless wanderings, the album presents harpsichord turns, abstract jungle beats, slithering guitar, and spacey whirls. Perhaps the most notable distinction is the dainty female vocals of Siobhan De Maré which suggest influences ranging from St. Etienne to Hooverphonic. On the whole, it's a striking album with enough cross-generational reference to keep the masses cultivated. --Lucas Hilbert

Album Description

The British pop duo's hit debut album coupled with a 10track bonus CD featuring mixes of four of the hit singlesfrom it thus far: two apiece of 'Life In Mono' (BananaRepublic Dub & Propellerheads) and 'Silicone' (Les RhythmesDigitales Mix & Mr Scruff Mix)

Album Details

Includes a Bonus 10 Track CD with Remixes by Aloof, Les Rythmes Digitales, Mr Scruff, Propellerheads, 187 Lockdown, Natural Born Chillers and More.

Customer Reviews:

Worth Repeating.......2007-05-14

I love this cd! It's too bad they only came out with one. I first saw/heard Life In Mono on MTV of all places and had to check them out. I love every single song on this cd and often listen to it on repeat in the car while driving.

I revolution that never took full form.......2007-01-22

Portishead, Olive, Esthero, Poe, Fionna Apple sound can be completely thought about with this album. Quite a bit off kilter than the others, but a contolled adventure. Mono has a varied sound enhanced by her voice.

There is much comparison but the contrast highlights all above. If drum and bass and some raw hip hop is your game this would be a great addition to your collection.

i'm sure noone will agree with me on this, but i don't care one bit..........2006-10-27

I happen to enjoy this album much more than I do Portishead's "Dummy". Funny how people mention this album/group being overrated: I see Portishead as being the overrated one... "Sour Times" was the only PH song i really liked, and that got played out FAST.

Not 5 star because I don't see it as a 'classic'... but I give it 4.5 - i think it comes close. Great sounds and styles at work here.

Amazing Despite de Mare's Lame Lyrics.......2006-08-15

The lushness and smooth, flowing sounds of this CD are what have kept me coming back to this CD for the past 10 years. Listening to them transports you back to 1965 and Bakelite telephones that never ring when you want a call from your man in his leisure suit and loafers. It's not quirky or chattering music, but it's so svelte and velvety in texture and rhythm that you just sit there and feel a contented sort of melancholy just to hear it.

Then, you hear a screeching banshee hiss her "s"s and whine in a nasal tone about how she can't find love and how her life is all messed up and her man is this and that. In about half the songs, it works, since you sort of close your eyes and imagine a nice 1960's drama set in a Londonian penthouse overlooking the Thames. Visions of avocado green and taupe carpet swirl in your head and you can get into that vibe...but on the other half of the songs with vocals, she's just plain irritating. You want to hear the complexities and little samples firing and there's this high-pitched keening going on. It's really hit-and-miss and de Mare's voice doesn't particularly add to the overall musicianship of the album, other than to render of slightly off-key notes that sort of fit the minor chords in some of the songs. The overall effect of her singing is to basically pigeonhole each song she sings as a wistful and brooding unrequited love/my-life-sucks paean so that there's no way you could play this at a party unless that was the mood you were going for. Hello Cleveland! is mysterious, deep, dark, intriguing and can be played anywhere and at anytime, but the vocals on the other tracks sort of limit the amount of playtime this CD can get outside of 1960's TV drama viewings.

I would say this is a definite buy since the music is good enough (you'll get relief from Siobahn's whining on Hello Cleveland! and if you get the Formica Blues single, a couple of those) to succeed in spite of Siobahn's best effort to blow the membrane out on her microphones and shatter the studio glass.

Mono hasn't been active since I was a college kid, but Marty Virgo's music is so good, I am not sure if he could have done anything afterwards that could even come close to this.

A MUST BUY.

Cool Album.......2006-08-04

Nice mix of electronics and other types of music. I find this CD very relaxing, I am glad I found it.

Average customer rating:

Worth Repeating
I revolution that never took full form
i'm sure noone will agree with me on this, but i don't care one bit...
Amazing Despite de Mare's Lame Lyrics
Cool Album

Formica Blues
Mono
Manufacturer: Import [Generic]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Trip-Hop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

Alternative Dance | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00000B9IF
Release Date: 1999-01-12

Tracks:

Life In Mono
Silicone
Slimcea Girl
The Outsider
Disney Town
The Blind Man
High Life
Playboys
Penguin Freud
Hello Cleveland!
Slimcea Girl(Aloof Remix)
Silicone(Les Rythmes Digitales Remix)
Slimcea Girl(Fat Boy Vocal)
High Life(Next Century Short Dub)
Silicone(Mr Scruff Remix)
Life In Mono(Propellerheads-Sweat Band Mix)
Slimcea Girl(Sol Brothers London Dub Remix)
High Life(187 Lockdown Low Life Dub)
Life In Mono(Banana Republic Urban Dub)
High Life(Natural Born Chillers Vocal Mix)

Amazon.com

Album Description

Album Details

Includes a Bonus 10 Track CD with Remixes by Aloof, Les Rythmes Digitales, Mr Scruff, Propellerheads, 187 Lockdown, Natural Born Chillers and More.

Customer Reviews:

Worth Repeating.......2007-05-14

I revolution that never took full form.......2007-01-22

i'm sure noone will agree with me on this, but i don't care one bit..........2006-10-27

Amazing Despite de Mare's Lame Lyrics.......2006-08-15

Cool Album.......2006-08-04

Nice mix of electronics and other types of music. I find this CD very relaxing, I am glad I found it.

Average customer rating:

Mono sound

Formica Blues
Mono
Manufacturer: Pony Canyon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Trip-Hop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | R&B | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

Alternative Dance | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000084NQ
Release Date: 1998-02-06

Tracks:

Life In Mono
Silicone
Slimcea Girl
Outsider
Disney Town
Blind Man
High Life
Playboys
Penguin Freud
Hello Cleveland!
Life In Mono (Hope Mix)
Silicone (Winchester Club
Slimcea Girl (Fat Boy Voc

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track and Alternate Cover Art.

Customer Reviews:

Mono sound.......2005-03-26

British pop duo Mono bring a sad, sweet sensibility to "Formica Blues," their first (and apparently only) album. It only narrowly avoids being bubblegum electronica. Instead it's a vaguely retro trip-hop collection with wistful vocals and melancholy little songs.

A low, thumping bass line pulls into the twittery trip-hop of "Life in Mono," a catchy but unmemorable little song. The tone shifts with the slightly ominous, poppy "Silicone" and the keyboard-led ballad "Slimcea Girl." The album bobs along with songs like the dramatic ("Outsider," the jazzy trip-hop "Blind Man") and the fluffy trip-hop ("Disney Town," pretty little "High Life"), before wrapping up with the bouncy, smoky "Hello Cleveland" and the Alice Band mix of "Life in Mono" with horns and drums.

If an album has "blues" in the title, it's a fair bet that there's something downbeat about it. "Formica Blues" avoids being actually depressing -- it's more the depression of someone who has had their heart broken, and is dealing with it by browsing quaint stores in Europe, smoking in loft apartments and painting little pictures. Sad, but in a way that heals. ("The tree-lined avenue/Begins to fade from view/Drowning past regrets/In tea and cigarettes")

The music itself is a web of keyboards, guitar, "wicked tambourine," and trumpets. Siobhan De Mare's breathy vocals are a nice touch; they're wispy but pretty. And the songwriting is most solid when it focuses on heartbreak, as in "Slimcea Girl" and "Life in Mono." When a more upbeat tone is taken ( as in "Disney Town" and "High Life") the vocals seem to be flatter, and the melodies merely sound like downtempo bubblegum pop. Fortunately, they don't stay in happy territory for long.

With a bit of retro-60s flavor and a bit of acid jazz mixed in, Mono's "Formica Blues" is an ethereal little Euro-trip-hop album. It won't heal a broken heart, but it's nice to listen to as you start to get over it.