Scorpio Rising

Product Information

Death in Vegas’ Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes created one of their finest records by combining synths with guitar rock and psychedelia. Adhering to what must be formal guidelines set by the electronic music industry, Death in Vegas exist as a duo, and have ever since the height of the electronic boom in the mid-to-late 1990s. Help Yourself" was used in a commercial by the former Czech mobile phone operator Eurotel (now Telefónica O2 Czech Republic); in Johan Kramer's 2003 film The Other Final; in the 2003 Girl Skateboards video Yeah Right! They’re using different samples in their sounds, so you can hear classics like Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley and His Comets) and Goin’ Back (The Byrds). Scorpio Rising features guest vocalists Liam Gallagher, Hope Sandoval, Nicola Kuperus, and Paul Weller, as well as string arrangements by L.

Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight) and "Whitewater" by Tortoise (written by Dan Bitney, Bundy Kien Brown, John Herndon, Doug McCombs, and John McEntire). The album was recorded at Death in Vegas' very own studio The Contino Rooms in early 2002, with the strings recorded at Trinity Wave Station in Chennai, India.Filter gave it a score of 84% and said that the sounds "are equally rich and emotive, just not as goblin-esque [as The Contino Sessions]. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Lies" includes a sample from "Goin' Back" by The Byrds, written and composed by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

The song "Hands Around My Throat" contains samples from the songs " Rock Around the Clock" by Telex (written by Max C. Which makes sense: If psychedelic rock begat the trance/dance of the 90s rave scene, it's not much of a stretch to figure that Death in Vegas would naturally come out sounding pretty Summer of Love if given the Altered States treatment. So while the two hearts of Death in Vegas are firmly in the right place, given that some of the biggest electronic hits have been from DJs hewing their sound to a rock standard, the execution is ultimately flawed. A taste of “My Bloody Valentine” and some electro pulses are thrillingly constructed in the different parts of the album.

Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. It may be no more embarrassing than any of the rock-band-in-electronic-clothes attempts sure to be thrust upon us in the coming months, but it's clear Death in Vegas don't have the recipe to the magic rock/electronic stew we've all been told to save our dancefloor moves for. Scorpio Rising is the third album by British electronica band Death in Vegas, which features guest vocalists Liam Gallagher, Hope Sandoval, Nicola Kuperus, and Paul Weller. Perhaps the duo is just second-tier to begin with, or perhaps they just let the needle swing too far towards the rock side of the dial, but the peak moments on Scorpio Rising offer little more than enjoyable nostalgia for overhead-projector light shows. In fact, if not for Death in Vegas' faceless DJ anonymity and a couple of characteristic electronic facets (the implementation of a few choice samples; a roster of Brit-centric celebrity guest vocalists including Paul Weller, Hope Sandoval, and Liam Gallagher), one might assume that the outfit responsible for this album was just a band with a hefty case of NME-approved 60s psych nostalgia.

Well, I'm sure it could qualify as either, depending on what the artists achieve, but for Death in Vegas, it's the latter. Playlouder gave it one-and-a-half stars out of five and stated that in the album "there are a couple of standout tracks, and the rest falls on its arse.Scorpio Rising continues along that asymptote towards a supposed "organic" sound, going light on the laptop and heavy on the relics of yesteryear: drums, basses, and guitars. From Radiohead's voyages into squiggly experimentation and beatmongering, to the current Rapture school of hiring producers to apply a timely lacquer of club sauce, such acts are celebrated for their admirable attempts at forward-thinking.

Elsewhere, Paul Weller gets a paisley backdrop of his own, lending a chesty vocal to "If You Say You Lost Your Baby" that does well to approximate a roided-up Forever Changes, while slower material engages in grandiose displays of Indian-inflected orchestration, conducted by the mysteriously Bond-villain-sounding Dr.

It's familiar, right down to the awful lyrics ("I wanna go to heaven, never been there before"), but refreshingly direct-- closer to Definitely Maybe form than the pretentious bloat of recent Oasis. Several songs on the album have appeared on film soundtracks, Girls is featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation and Hands Around My Throat is featured on the Animatrix soundtrack. Two of these (the banjo-and-mandolin-contrasted "Killing Suite" and the droning "Help Yourself") feature former Mazzy Star crooner Hope Sandoval, and your appreciation of such is probably directly proportional to your nostalgia for "Fade Into You"-type atmospheric noir.