Search - Appliance :: Are You Earthed

An Elegant Dystopia

WrtnWrd | Northridge, CA USA | 04/12/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On their third full length-release Are You Earthed?, the Kraut-rock industrialism of Appliance is grounded by Michael Parker's loping, graceful bass lines. In keeping with Parker's lyricism, the band itself - including guitarist/vocalist James Brooks and drummer David Ireland - are not only earthbound, but internal. On Manual and Imperial Metric, they were a propulsive, compelling, dark and ultimately distancing unit. They were concerned with technology on a planetary scale. Here, they tackle both the liberating and alienating effects of information overload, but it's the individual toll that concerns them now. As a result, the music is both creepier and warmer. Imagine the elegant dystopia of Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night" crossed with the clinical dispassion of Wire's isolating electronica and you're halfway there."