Darkest Thoughts:
Morado | cincinnati, ohio USA | 03/15/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"B! Machine is a one man tower of power. He is leading the synth underground with his layered electronic textures, ambient beats, and meloncholy vocals. His mixing and production are phat with all sounds being crisp and up front. The style is somewhat dark, yet not melo-dramatic or boring. The lyrics are deep, honest, and revealing. Not all the tracks are floor packers, but I dig the overall mood. I recommend more than one listen for sure...Some of my favorites: "Darkest Thoughts"/"Opal"**/"Foreign"/"Temple"/"The Difference"*/"Affliction"**"
The best discopunk you never heard
Scott Jeune | kerhonkson, ny | 02/22/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"My god, what can I say about this album except that it really needs to be heard. Out of all the EC bands out there, this is the one who took the old school vibe, took it seriously, and then polished it into the next level. This is the album that Depeche Mode never did, and at this point I will take this album over Depeche Mode's new one (even though I liked that one). For real, someone needs to put this guy on a major label and get this out for the masses, forgive the reference. The first three songs on this album absolutely throb, and the vocals are croony yet restrained... think more Annie Lennox than Peter Murphy. This album probably came out too early to be caught in the EC onslaught, but I feel attention needs to be paid to it as much as and perhaps more so than alot of artists out there. By the way, how something this arctic came out of Arizona is beyond my comprehension. Addressing synthpop, EC, with even a little freestyle in there to boot, this disc has never failed to enthrall me and has been hummable and in the stereo even a year and a half and 100+ albums later. It is one of those albums where you cannot play just one track, it's all over until it's all over... and the last album that I discovered that did that was my vinyl copy of Pretty Hate Machine in, what, 1991? B!Machine deserves to be THAT FAMOUS. (no, I am not a personal friend of the band, haha). But seriously, it's one of those albums that has gone widely unnoticed, and for the life of me I honestly can't understand why... Just get out there and buy it!!!"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1