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Frankie Death & the Photon Belt
"Soundtrack for the film Future Unseen"
psychedelic - tek - pop
Think late-60s/early 70s Pink Floyd psychedelia mixed with the funky elements of the Beastie Boys, a hint of early-80s Adam Ant gothic-pirate gun-ho-spirit, childhood dreamlike memories and you'll get something close to what this is. Though their first CD, this is kind of the second album from these aural weirdos - see review in blat-prop 1. 12 tracks over 50 minutes (including a secret track, but that's a secret so I haven't told you about it, o.k.?)
This album is structured so that instrumental "photon beltish" sound-scapes alternate in sequence with the vocal-featuring "Frankie Deathish" tracks; works very well. There are some truly mind-expanding aural sound-scapes here courtesy of the evil Ernie (the photon belt side of the equation). Picture yourself floating through clear skies over exotic landscapes, through the inner earth encountering lots of bizzare worlds and creatures. And some great songs with Mr. Death's identity vocals: a strange mixture, sometimes reminiscent of a nasalish pirate (like some early gothic acts such as Sex Gang Children), a theatrical chipmunk, and the singer from Suede. "Future Unseen" is a slow folky piece with apparent musical influences from spaghetti western soundtracks.
"Caught Between" is driven by a funky beat, melodic vocals and interesting musical tangents. "Lovekult" is the biggest ear-catcher, sexiest and most stand-out track on the album. Sounds sort of like Brit-pop band Suede doing techno-pop. Raucous guitars, doof-beat and sexy coy-boy vocals. You'll find it featured on the "Blatant Propaganda Vol.1 CD". I can imagine lots of teenage kids getting off on this song. I do. I love the "hum chant" which follows this track too, though it would be better if it were 30 minutes longer so I could meditate to it. "Garden Seed" has a mellow funky beat, acoustic guitar parts and vocals vaguely reminiscent of a subdued Beastie Boys.
"Face the Music" contains trip-hop beats, acoustic guitars and dreary, nasalish theatrical-pirate-gothic vocals (which I like!). "Guided" completes the album with trippy beats, melodies, sound snippets and perhaps the clearest mix and definition of the vocals among all the tracks. Overall, a wonderfully great album that takes many listens to fully appreciate. Sadly, I think that it may be largely overlooked by the music press as it doesn't fit into any established genres.
from blantant propaganda
Frankie Death and The Photon Belt - "Soundtrack For The Film Unseen"
(Subversive Records 1998, CD)
From the land down under, Frankie Death and The Photon Belt are separate entities who have teamed up for this "unseen" film soundtrack. The disc opens with a spacey intro piece that segues smoothly into "Future Unseen", a spacey, folky, David Bowie type tune with a child's voice intermittently popping in to give bits of the story. But the song has a strong melody and a powerful crashing verse that really grabbed my attention. I should also mention that Vocabularinist sent this disc along with their own so it comes as no surprise that there are some pretty wild vocals on this disc.
"Dream Sequence I" is another spacey electronic track and serves as an intro to "Caught Between", another melodic tune that brought to mind an Egyptian space chorus trading verses with freaked out rappers amidst a trippy synth excursion and subtle paisley psychedelia. And "Dream Sequence II" is an aptly titled swirling collage of sounds, voices, and efx that takes an abrupt turn into the hard driving punky dancey rocker "Lovekult".
"I Am (Hum Chant)" is just what the title suggests. A trippy chanting piece that leads into the drugged melodic valium tune "Garden Seed (D.N.A. Song)". You'll notice I keep mentioning intro pieces, and it does certainly seem that the band was conscious of song placement ensuring the flow and smooth transition from one track to the next. "Can You Get My Plane" is a mucho cosmic journey into electronic space mind expansion, and "Face The Music" starts out as a spaced out New Wave soundtrack to some imaginary cosmic Clint Eastwood western, and finishes as... well, just completely spaced out. Straaaaaaange... but cool. A wild ride into the cosmic and chaotic. Well done and good fun.
Soundtrack For The Film Unseen is distributed by Subversive Records. You can visit their web site.
Hear sound samples at The Photon Belt site at Mp3.com.
Hear Frankie Death sound sample at his Mp3.com site.
From Aural Innovations #14 (January 2001)
'lovekult' by frankie death and the photon belt. taken from the compilation cd 'Blatant Propaganda Vol. 1 '
Various Artists
"I love this band just for the name, but the track picks up a few more kitsch points by having a young child introduce the song. It's a good old sing along song in a uniquely tongue-in-cheek/early 80s punk/Dogs In Space kind of way. They sound as if they'd be absolutely wonderful live."
The Aether Sanctum - Haydn - 03/10/1999
'lovekult' by frankie death and the photon belt. taken from the cd 'Blatant Propaganda Vol. 1 (Electonica Industrial and Darkwave Compilation)
"Frankie Death and the Photon Belt just rule. I love the way they introduce the song, with a little kid saying "Presenting Frankie Death and the Photon Belt!" The beginning of the song is a little slow, with just guitars and hard to hear vocals. Within 20 seconds it gets really cool though. My only complaint on this song is that it's too short."
'Last Sigh' Magazine
Reviewed by
Theriel
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