Review: Ken Ishii - Future In Light (2003)

Ken Ishii - Future In Light (2003)

If your big on techno and are reading this, you will already have heard of Keni Ishii. If your an anime fan you'll most likely have heard of Ken Ishii, the man who collaborated with an anime studio to make his amazing video for the hit single Extra from the ball-bouncingly good Jelly Tones album from 1995. If your neither then prepare to enter this Japanese techno nut's weird and squishy world of bleepy bleeps and squeaky squeaks. For his new album, Future In Light is completely and utterly umm......good.

I was one of the moronic few who missed out on his last album, Flatspin which i was pissed about and eventually got to hear and well, loved it. But this album is new, new and different. It still retains the distinctive Ken Ishii sound; futuristic, heavy use of synth and a phat bobbing bassline. But somehow it sounds like a new change in direction, a new progression. A change i really like. I didn't think i'd see a better work from Ishii-san than the awesome Jelly Tones, but well, he's proved me wrong.

From the start your speakers are succumbed to the simply divine sounds of opening track Awakening, my personal favourite on the album. If you have seen the video for this you'll agree it's superb. If you haven't, shame on you, you missed out on a special video.

The bouncy start is short-lived as we're taken through dark and deep true techno soundcapes. Hard, pounding kickdrums and snares fuse together seemlessly with the trademark Ishii synth sound. A couple of tracks in the middle segment of this album do tend to overdo it a little but it's a small price to pay for something so good, so worthwhile.

In essence, to cut a long story short, do get this album. If you fancy a change from the usual techno hum-drum, get this. If you want something entierly different to the rest of your collection, get this. Basically, get this.

Final Score: 8/10

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Last edited by Mystic Slippers on 06-19-2003 at 10:37 PM

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