Digitalism

[Stefan]

Digitalism's new album "Mirage" will be out May 13th!
https://www.facebook.com/digitalism/videos/vb.7444699828/10154610046829829



Looking forward to this!

[MadPooter]

YAAAAAAAAAAY!

[Ben_j]

I really liked the first tracks so far.

https://soundcloud.com/digitalism_official/digitalism-utopia

[Wolkenkrabber]

^ Das ist gut! Probably the best of the three tracks they've shared.
I wouldn't have recognised Jens' voice on Battlecry, and that's definitely not Jens on The Ism. Let's see if the remaining 12 tracks that we haven't heard live up to the big statement they made around the end of 2014.

Oh Roller from 2015 doesn't make the album. And Isi reckons "our fans will cry when they hear Mirage".

[MadPooter]

Utopia is a fine track. I keep enjoying it every time I put it on.

Battle cry is an interesting change for the vocals...

[Ben_j]

Oh Roller from 2015 doesn't make the album. And Isi reckons "our fans will cry when they hear Mirage".

Roller was shit anyway

[MadPooter]

This track is poppy/cheesy as shit...

But am I the only one who thinks it's actually pretty epic?

[Stefan]

It's definitely cheesy, but the right kind of cheesy. It got stuck in my head 

[Wolkenkrabber]

Mirage - Album review

So Digitalism return - at last - with their make or break third album. Mirage certainly isn't a perfect comeback, but the album's fifteen tracks spread over 76 minutes provide ample opportunity for fans to find something to like here.

Which tracks on the album appeal, may depend on which version of Digitalism you like. You can broadly place these tunes into four categories:  (1) Pop-Rock, (2) Plodding 80's Synth, (3) Filter House, and (4) Bangers. A lot of these tunes have a slightly dated vibe about them – those dates being the 1980's & 90's, but that doesn't necessarily leave them without merit.

1: Pop-Rock
Following the cheesy filter house opener of 'Arena', tracks two and three both fall into the breezy 'Pop-Rock' category.  I can imagine cruising along a beach road with the top down , merrily belting out "this is our battlecry, yeah yeah yeah yeah" for track two (Battlecry) and "Let's get Friday out of the way...Woah oh oh oh ohhh" on track three  (Go Time).  Feel the joy! Pretend you're in a John Hughes movie!  Elsewhere, Open Waters, a guitar-heavy (almost) instrumental thing bounces along pleasantly like the theme to a Red Bull Desert Wings video, and closing track Blink sounds so much like a rework of Phoenix's 1901 that the French band should call their lawyers if they don't get a writing credit.

2: Synth Plodders
The 80's synth plodders? They're not great I'm afraid. Destination Breakdown's verses could mix into Corey Hart's Sunglasses At Night, but then throw in the naff electric guitar and underpowered chorus and ugh, you just want it to stop.  Indigo Skies and Shangri La fare little better; these slow plodders need good melodies to make them worthwhile; um...they don't have good melodies.

3: Filter House
As for the filter house stuff, the aforementioned Arena sounds like a Fanta commercial, but No Cash towards the end of Mirage is big fun.  A brassy sample -perhaps nicked from an old Philly soul record- repeats whist being interspersed by Jens's falsetto proclamation "No Cash!". The bassline bounces along playfully underneath and hey; you could probably mix this into Pete Heller's Big Love if you wanted to. Power Station could be included in this section but let's save it for The Bangers. As for The Ism, should a rap track be on a Digitalism album at all? Well, Will Smith might like it I suppose.

4: Bangers
And finally the Bangers. Utopia is the one featuring those plucked acoustic-y guitar strings.  A 'gimmick' that the likes of Fragma and Jam & Spoon both employed well in the 90's, although not quite like this.  The track could do with having a minute or so shaved off it but, damn this thing just works.  As for Power Station, there's more looped, filtered 90's house sounds here, but they're  underpinned by a stomping beat (around 130bpm) and some gritty synths, so you get the hard and the soft on one banging track. Time to dance.

And while we're at it, another electrically named tune, Dynamo is worthy of its own little paragraph.  An urgent shit kicker of a track, with an ascending tone and detuned synths that would surely appeal to one Mr T Rowlands. Throw in some cool percussive noises, a pulsating synth bass, a reverb-heavy vocal line from Jens, and a deep vocodered vocal (similar to the one on Leftfield's Afro Left), and you have something irresistible. My only complaint is that at 5.18 it just isn't long enough; we need an extended EBW version! 

And finally we have Mirage, the title track which comes in two parts. Not a banger in terms of tempo but a fine tune nonetheless.  Part one features moody, deep, serious sounding synths , on top is added the sort of celestial processed chorus sound which has been well used before – again by people like Jam & Spoon (!) in the 90's. Cynics will say: nothing to see here. Isi says, "It will make you cry". Well, no crying here, but instead it leaves you with warm positive vibes. I'm not sure if the slow beats are Trap or Rock, but either way there's an epic feel to this thing.  Or alternatively, it's just massively self-important!  Part two isn't strictly necessary but J&I couldn't resist extending the idea, and you have to admire their enthusiasm.

Mirage (the album) really is a mix of the good, the bad and the cheesy. Much of it has been done before by others, and some of it shouldn't ever be done again! It's difficult to take Digitalism's music entirely seriously, but perhaps they don't expect us to. You'd have to be a grumpy bastard not to appreciate some of this stuff.  As for the duds; well, knocking about five tracks off the album would undoubtedly improve the score below.

Scoring individual tracks would probably cover a range from 2 through to 9, but for the whole album, a pretentious Pitchfork rating of 7.8.

[Ben_j]

I gave it a listen, and overall really liked it. Some forgettable tunes but also some really nice ones. Dynamo is my favourite I think. And the second part of Destination Breakdown, wow !

[Stefan]

I assume you got hold of a leaked version? I'll wait for the official release 

[Stefan]

Finally gotten around to listen to it!

Digitalism definitely produced another great record!
Favourite tracks so far: Destination Breakdown, Dynamo and Power Station.

[MadPooter]

I certainly enjoy the album. I think it is a fine piece of work!

[Wolkenkrabber]

I went to Heaven last night and Digitalism were there. Heaven being the name of the venue in London (a gay nightclub on the weekends, gig venue during the week).
I guess with festival season being over, like the Chems they're doing their "proper" Mirage tour now. But it's uh...a bit smaller in scale.
It wasn't sold out, in fact it was probably only about 60% full. Bad for the act but good for the punters - no jostling and plenty of room to dance - which everyone did (hell they were on a dancefloor!).

A mixture of new stuff and old as you'd expect. My only real gripe was the lack of "Dynamo" - the best thing on Mirage IMO (which they've played previously in Cologne). They played behind a net (!) with the mirage colours projected on to it, like in

View this post on Instagram

(not mine).

Anyway they play Lille tonight, Paris tomorrow, then Amsterdam, and a string of dates in Germany and beyond. European forumites could do worse than try to get last minute tickets. TOUR DEETS

https://twitter.com/digitalism/status/786841778754351104

[Stefan]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the gig! Digitalism live is always a pleasure!
I've already seen them at the Zürich Openair in August and already have tickets for their show on Dec. 1st in Vienna 

[toxic]

  Live from the "Melgweg"... should be "Melkweg".

[pnx]

Hi guys,
I hope I'm not making a double post, but if someone of you already posted this I completely missed it.

I'm listening right now to the last Digitalism's album and I think that's not bad at all!
It definetively worths a listen.

[pnx]

Sorry for the noob question, but which command should I use to embed a video??

[Csar]

Sorry for the noob question, but which command should I use to embed a video??

Hi PNX, you just need to put your link into your post and it will automatically display the video with most video platforms. For YT, you need to copy and past in the full address from the addressbar instead of the shortened link that YT provides in their "Share" tab. I've fixed it for you.

Btw, we already have a Digitalism thread. Would you mind if merged your topic with the first one?

[pnx]

Hi Csar, thank you for the explanation and the help provided.
Ok to merge the thread!