Archive: Review of Bowery Electric's "Lushlife"

(Written on 22 August 2007, when I was still pretty lame at reviews)

Artist: Bowery Electric
Album: Lushlife
Release Date: 2000
Tags: trip-hop, shoegaze
My Rating: 10 out of 10

With their first two albums, the duo Bowery Electric established themselves as talented musicians that are willing to experiment with any music element in order to achieve that special feeling that appeals to fans of genres such as shoegaze and post-rock. In spite of the relative success of their 1996 LP "Beat", Bowery have decided for their 3rd LP, "Lushlife", to change their style, resulting a style that is apparently similar to a style that has generated in the mid- and end-90's an entire fad - trip-hop. The reactions of the fans could be described as very mixed - even reviews whose writers declare that Bowery have become commercial!

But don't listen to them! Ignoring this album, from the point of view of a trip-hop fan, would be an even greater mistake than not listening to "Dummy". Why?

Here's why.

Bowery Electric have worked at this album for two years and recorded it in a special studio in Manhattan, New York City. The results are at least spectacular. When you start listening to this album, your mind instantly travels to an other place - the place where the band recorded this album and the very place every song manages to perfectly describe in every detail. Very few albums manage easily to get the listener plunge into another world - and "Lushlife" is one of them.

Now, do you simply want to buy a trip-hop album and you can't decide what to buy? Buy this album. Want a soundtrack for your late night driving sessions? Buy this album. Want to know how it's like listening to an album over and over again and still can't get enough of it? Buy this album. Recently suffered in love and want to get some music to chill you out? Buy this album. Bored of all the albums you have and want to try something new? Buy this album! Or do you simply want a CD with a nice cover art? Even so, buy this album!

This isn't advertising, this isn't fanboyism, this is for real! "Lushlife" isn't another fancy Portishead rip-off, it's exactly that breath of fresh air trip-hop needs to revitalise itself. It's very hard to believe that it is, in fact, so easy to produce an interesting trip-hop album - simply by combining trip-hop and shoegaze elements. However, Bowery don't simply combine those elements... No. They somehow managed to find that perfect balance between the elements of the two genres that manage to give a real meaning to the term "trip-hop". There's nothing in their sound that shouldn't belong there. Most of the time, you can barely understand what the vocalist Martha Schwendener says, because the vocals are used as an instrument to blend in. Sacrificing the lyrics in favor of a better "flow" makes perfect sense - and they also amplify the ethereal sensation of the musical world you're plunged into.

A world of concreate jungles dominated by depression-causing rains and broken hearts with the midnight sun always shining in their minds - that's the best description of this album you can ever think of. And yet, there is no language that can really describe how good this album is. Everyone knows that some bands manage at some point of their career to reach their zenith in inspiration. Well, "Lushlife" is definitely Bowery's zenith. Even "Mezzanine" doesn't manage to stay faithful to the initial concept, but "Lushlife" does that on every single track, making it possibly the most representative album for what the essence of the trip-hop movement really is. If you consider yourself a trip-hop fan and haven't listened to this album before, stop listening for the 1,000th time "Glory Box" and buy this album - the least thing you can do considering that they broke up after the release of this album!

P.S. (does not belong to review body) I've wanted to write something different from my previous review (that was for Earthling's "Radar" album) - on that review, I've basically analyzed each song and only vaguely formulated an overview of the album. This time, I made something that would be closer to the professional reviews you would see on mags like Q, Rolling Stone or Pitchfork and yet something that would be more intense than the average review with extremely complex musical terms. I think I've succeded... By the way, the score isn't faked, I've listened to many trip-hop albums and so far I've only met two albums that would deserve this rating: "Mezzanine" and this one. Hope you guys enjoyed it!