Goldfrapp :: Felt Mountain

artist: Goldfrapp

from: UK (myspace) (jukebox)

album: Felt Mountain

release date: 19.sept.2000

label: Mute

genre: trip-hop, 40s?, read below..

rating: EXCELLENT. pitchfork review

special edition (+remixes)

192kbps//101mb

holy shizz am i glad i made this musical discovery. i was listening to soundcheck on live105 sunday night, then decided to keep it on and listen to jelli radio (user-controlled radio). "ooh la la" (from 2005 album "supernature") played, and i was like 'wtf! how come i've never heard of goldfrapp?!'

You might expect the debut album from a woman who has collaborated extensively with Tricky and Orbital to be both wondrous and strange—and you'd be right to. What you might not expect is the depth of Alison Goldfrapp's beguiling, distracting 21st-century noir visions on Felt Mountain. She and her fellow composer Will Gregory can mix in Brechtian cabaret; classical instrumentation; left-of-field electronics; decadent, Gainsbourg-style French pop; and the odd piece of whistling on just one track ("Felt Mountain"). "Oompa Radar" almost reaches Tom Waits heights of infamy, the way familiar instruments come together in such a simultaneously comforting and alienating style. The baroque "Paper Bag," meanwhile, uncannily recalls Joe Meek's toy-town visions of 1960s grandeur. All this and a seductive vocal to die for.

–Everett True

haunting, unearthly, and wondrous, ethereal and moody, incredible, dark, enchanting, extremely fresh sounding, yet, at the same time, quite nostalgic

(amazon reviews)

Immediately upon listening to the first track off this album, I was reminded of Portishead. But this whole album is way more interesting than Portishead, imo. Portishead is more dreary. This is more..wondrous. You gotta listen to it. Felt Mountain feels like music from the 40s, (if i'm wrong, fuck me i don't know time periods), like from a noir soundtrack. Imagine the black and white films, a dark nightclub, gentlemen in suits smoking cigars, and a band playing, with a very sensual singer. Amazing.

CD1
1. Lovely Head
2. Paper Bag
3. Human
4. Pilots
5. Deer Stop
6. Felt Mountain
7. Oompa Radar
8. Utopia
9. Horse Tears

CD2
1. Pilots (On A Star)
2. U.K. Girls (Physical)
3. Lovely Head (Miss World Mix)
4. Utopia (New Ears Mix)
5. Human (Calexico Vocal)
6. Human (Masseys Cro-Magnon Mix)
7. Utopia (Tom Middletons Cosmos Vocal Mix)