Tag: senser

I like all music by Senser but most of it just happens to play in a shuffle when driving. The first album by them Stacked Up is very hard to beat and because I’ve listened to that one for around thirty years the newer stuff just gets lost in brain-fog. That’s not to say it’s not worth listening to, I think I’m just saying that I’m an old dog and most new music is like new tricks [are?].

This is communication number 1945, here are some things that happened that year:

• The US executes a US soldier for desertion.
• Hildesheim is pretty much destroyed in an air raid.
• Arthur C Clarke puts forward idea of geosynchronous satellite orbits.

Reading through the Wikipedia pages over the last few communications has been pretty fucking depressing. I know I’ve been trying to put things in these lists that are a little different. I don’t want to focus on the things that people probably know, I want to put things that you might read and go “huh?”. I’d like to think that the years following 1945 will be less depressing but I suspect that I’ll still be reading about plenty of murder and killing of people by governments around the world. Jesus, humans are fucking terrible and horrible most of the time.

Holy Shit – This Album!

This album changed my views on music. Most of the music I have ever listened to has been recommended by Smith. He says stuff, I listen and then I like. Our journey through music together has been one of the defining relationships of my life. Without him I wouldn’t have discovered or even felt comfortable liking most of the music I do. I was in the second year at university when this recommendation came through to me. I think the thing that this album had was raging guitars along with some electronica songs and sampling etc. It’s a complete and utter game changer for me and stunning. I have loved this album since then. Why is it that the best albums are written by musicians with a left-leaning political bent?

So, the lead singer rap/sings his way through the songs. There’s another vocalist who is female and sounds amazing. Heavy guitars. Superb bass work. Drums that sound a little “Manchester” but that’s forgivable. Flutes! Sampling. Everything is here. This album is a real good one for chilling out and laying on the floor in the dark with sunglasses on.

I’ve seen this band twice and I think I wish it was more than that. I saw them in Southsea and also at The Underworld. Both times I really enjoyed it.

I might have been obsessed with some of the Eject remixes and I’ll mention them later.

States Of Mind – Electronica opening to a heavy wavy riff with rap singing over the top. The chorus swaps things around to calm glow. The band use bass only and guitar only well. Even the change of key does not make me cringe as it does in most other songs. I guess this song is about how we should change our programmed prejudices. Brilliant.
The Key – This song canters along with a rolling bass line and power chords ringing out. It has all the elements of Senser here with samples, scratching, funky sounds at points, haunting vocals from Kerstin.
Switch – The metal feel softens with this song as the guitars are mostly high pitched and wavy. Lots of programming used in this one with a rolling bass line as the main feature for me.
Age Of Panic – Straight from the start you know this is high tempo. Great build up to the main part of the song, another one with screamy high pitched guitar lines. The chorus for this one increases the bass line to assault your ears. It’s great.
What’s Going On – Heavy opening riff that dissolves into a beat with flute. The production on this one focuses less on the guitars and hits home with bass and electronic sounds.
One Touch One Bounce – This almost seems a non-song and comes over as the first attempt at calming electronica. This allows you to breathe in the centre of this album.
Stubborn – more rolling bass lines [I’m very jealous] then the guitars and vocals join a great riff. This song has a gorgeous bit in the middle with a mixture of sounds to set the ears afire.
Door game – The flute opens to a decent beat with different sounds and structure. There’s an off-beat hi-hat which is lovely. No heavy guitars in this one so a change of pace.
Peanut Head – Another excellent bass line with a cantor gait. This song has a more funky feel. The structure of the songs starts to feel “Senser” by this song. Middle sections with drums and samples, build up with bass and guitar intros building to the last section of the song.
Peace – This is an important song because it calms you before the next. It soothes you into careful breathing, such loveliness.
Eject – This song. This MF song. Upbeat. Rattling guitars. Galloping through the verses and I can imagine the crowds bouncing together and then moshing as the chaos increases. This song feels just as relevant to me today as it did twenty five years ago. We are all conditioned to to this thing, to work, to accept what we have. It’s time to Eject the power.
No Comply – Thrash speed and a massive antifa anthem. This song links more politics with lyrics and hits home with explanations of how racism is created in people. Fantastic song.
Worth – After the last two songs of high intensity this one lets you down calmly. It’s a fantastic outro to a fantastic album. I still want to play the whole thing at incredible volume.

I wrote about Elect EP in 2014 and to me that feels quite recent! I must be getting on a bit. This album is a good one for the car Mr O.

Communication number 1668. Here’s what was happening in England during that year; lots of people were born and lots died, Newton created a reflecting telescope, the British East India Company took control of Bombay by “Royal Charter”, William Penn was imprisoned for writing a pamphlet attacking trinitarian doctrine.

Schematic is a decent album by Senser. It’s worth getting. Am I aware of any of the songs in particular? No. But this is worth owning if you like their particular brand of rock.

I saw Senser at the Underworld when they supported the mixer chap from Slipknot. That was the first gig I ever took my niece to. I think she enjoyed it. I’m not sure where this CD comes from, it might be an extra as part of a DVD I bought. I’ve not really listened to it. I like the studio stuff very much.