Prez's Top Ten LFO (Electronica) Songs!

[President Squidward]

I've done one for Amon Tobin, now I'm doing one with another Electronic act I decided to give a spin earlier this month, LFO! (Not the boy band of the same name, this electronic group that does Techno and IDM, and it's last member of the group, Mark Bell died in 2014 at 43 due to surgery complications :(). I first discovered LFO via Sleeping Dogs on Warp (their record label) Radio many years ago, with the song Psychodelik, but never gave them a try until six years later, and I'm glad I finally did. All three of their albums are fantastic, Sheath being my favorite out of the bunch (followed by Advance, which recently grew on me a lot, followed by Frequencies). Anyway, enough talking about LFO themselves. Let's get to my TOP TEN FAVORITE LFO SONGS EVER!

 

#10: Jason Vorhees (Advance, 1996)

I love the sound to this one a lot! It has a nice haunting melody to it, with a fantastic beat to it that gives it an Ambient Techno feel. Reminds me a bit of Boards of Canada's track "Korona". 

 

#9: El Ef Oh! (Frequencies, 1991)

It was hard choosing my favorite from Frequncies. It's a fairly consistent album and every song on that album has a good thing about it. Between this and Nurture though, I must say this track takes the cake for me. From the "ELE" voice sample to the killer beat an haunting synths that come into the song a minute in, it gets the seal of approval for me. Absolutely catchy!

 

#8: Mokeylips (Sheath, 2003)

 

Ah, one of the oddly titled but amazing tracks from Sheath, LFO's final album. Like the title, this track has a weird melody to it, but once again is very catchy to me. I also really dig the beat Mokeylips has while the melody is playing. Not my favorite of Sheath, but still a five star track.

 

#7: Goodnight Vienna (Advance, 1996)

 

This track may not seem much, but this one kind of holds nostalgia value for me as I discovered it's used for the Warp radio bumper in a Sleeping Dogs. When I heard this track in full for the first time though, I didn't realize until it shows up at the 0:46 mark and throughout. It's a repetitive, ambient sounding track but it's so beautiful and soothing to listen to that I don't mind it being 3 minutes long. I love how it slowly fades away near the end. But yeah, great track!

 

#6: Nevertheless (Sheath, 2003)

 

Sorry. While Freak is a good track and bangs hard (hell, its growing on me a bit. I've been thinking about it a lot lately), I think this track bangs even HARDER. That reverse violin is killer! Also the techno beat is fantastic too, and makes me want to do this:

 

#5: Blown (Sheath, 2003)

 

I remember when I was first reviewing LFO's albums in order I had a feeling that with the genres Sheath are associated with (IDM, Acid Techno, Downtempo), it would turn out to be my favorite album. And with this opening track, I was correct. I knew right from the start of this album that I was in for many awesome tracks like this. I love the moody feel to this track and it's incredible slow techno beat. My favorite part of the track though has to be from 4:32 to the end of the track. Stunning to hear every time.

 

#4: Moistly (Sheath, 2003)

 

Yep. You guessed it, another Sheath track.  This one also BANGS REALLY HARD. That beat with the beautiful synths and bleeps is fantastic. Mark Bell killing it once again!! My second favorite track of Sheath next to one more, which we'll get to later.

 

#3: Loch Ness (Advance, 1996)

 

For some reason, at first listen this song didn't really impress me besides (oh hey, this is fine. 3.5 stars), but after hearing it again it started to click with me. Sounds awesome all the way through, like I could do an Irish jig to this. One of the highlights from Advance!

 

#2: Shove Piggy Shove (Advance, 1996)

 

THIS is my favorite off of Advance. THIS is also the track I discovered via listening to Bullitnuts on Pandora and loved a lot, reminding me about LFO and made me curious to check out their discography. I'm glad I did. It's funny though, this track sound so kind of different to what they usually do. It has a nice downtempo feel to it, with that clicking sound (not sure what instrument it is), that's use for the beat to go along with the bleep techno. I fucking love it though, has a nice real aesthetic to it and is very catchy! This is one of those songs that feels like perfect length, has no negatives to it and will never get tiring to listen to.

 

Before we get to #1, here are some honorable mentions that didn't make the list.

 Nurture (Frequncies, 1991)

- LFO (Leeds Warehouse Mix) (Frequencies, 1991)

- Track 14 (Frequncies, 1991)

- Snot (Sheath, 2003)

- You Have to Understand (Frequncies, 1991)

- Psychodelik (Advance, 1996)

- 'Premacy (Sheath, 2003)

- Freeze (Frequncies, 1991)

- Simon From Sydney (Frequncies, 1991)

 

AND NOW... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MY #1 FAVORITE LFO SONG OF ALL TIME, WHICH IS PROBABLY OBVIOUS IDK

#1: Unafraid To Linger (Sheath, 2003)

 

This is the main reason why Sheath is my favorite LFO album. While Sheath has many five star tracks for me, THIS one is my favorite not only from the album, but ever in LFO's entire discography. I'm not sure if it's too short or just perfect. Either way, I always come back for more. It already starts with a cool slow beat, but the track slowly gets better and better. I love the moodiness for the whole track, as well as the fantastic synths, but the best part of the song has to be the 2:59 mark to the end. HOLY FUCK, THE CLARINET THAT COMES IN AND JUST STARTS GLITCHING AS THE BEAT AND SYNTHS PLAY TOGETHER WITH IT, IT'S ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST ELECTRONIC SONGS I'VE HEARD IN MY LIFE. IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY OF HOW BEAUTIFULLY COMPOSED THIS IS.

And once the beat goes away, the song still hits you hard with the glitchy clarinet slowly fading, and then finally closing off with the synth you heard throughout the song slowly fading away. It gives me a depressing yet gorgeous feeling. Thank you so much, Mark Bell, you did fantastic with not only with this song, but this entire album. Bravo.

 

and those are my top ten favorite LFO songs. Feel free to give them a spin or comment about why Freak isn't on the list when it should be.  

[Goobz]

I know you said it... but c'mon I was expecting 'Freak', dude! I loved 'Freak' when you posted it on the Discord!

[President Squidward]

5 minutes ago, Goobz said:

I know you said it... but c'mon I was expecting 'Freak', dude! I loved 'Freak' when you posted it on the Discord!

Freak doesn't hit me musically or aesthetically. Like don't get me wrong, it's good, it's kind of growing more on me, but I think dig more of the emotional sounding tracks from LFO, even though I think more poeple know and like them for their techno than their IDM. I think I'm the latter. @RDSPand @Burgerpants would probably put that track on their lists if the year ever made one though.