Metamatic Forums John Foxx Collaborations D'Agostino/Foxx/Jansen/ - New Album

I think I'll be holding off pre-orders from Townsend in future considering that Amazon have the CD in stock for £8.98!

I ordered mine from Amazon - and I've just been informed that it came through the mailbox this morning.

OK, this is clearly John at his most abstract.

The high point for me after the first couple of listens, is the second part, which seems to have achieved the right balance between the abstract atmospheres and the melodic piano lead. I enjoyed where the piano took me in part three, except it wasn't as continuous and consistent as I'd initially hoped. The rest I found more difficult to digest, not unlike Tangerine Dream at their most experimental; sparse, droning, metallic and resonating icy chills, and irritating after a while.

It's a strange recording because a part made of grating metallic echoes that almost makes you want to hit the skip button will suddenly change into something much warmer, smoother and melodic.

While a lot of it sounds like a recording of somebody walking round a shop full of wind chimes or a dozen clanging frying pans struggling to fit back into the pantry, it has some genuinely lovely bits - mostly the piano, which adds an element of melody to what is otherwise, metallic background noise.

I do look forward to experiencing this on the headphones, as it is a very sonic album - it'll either be a real joy or give me a headache! This is the kind of thing that I enjoy working to - it's (mostly) unintrusive and subtle background sound, and slightly reminiscent of Cliff Martinez's soundtrack to Solaris in places. If anything it's the tam-tams that I'm not keen on.

I do enjoy the piano element to this and I really wish there was more of it. We're in Translucence/Quiet Man territory, but with more going on in the background, which gives it a little more sonic variety. However this is very sparse and I prefer my instrumental music with more melody and substance.

This was an unfinished project for a while, and to me, it still sounds that way. While I like some of the direction it starts to go in, but then it doesn't actually go anywhere. Definitely the most diverse album with John's name on it - you certainly can't compare it to anything else beyond the Budd collaborations in places. I could imagine this playing alongside an installation or exhibit in an art gallery - but not an album to sit down and listen to.

In all honesty, I can't imagine this being something I'll return to very often, and maybe could have done without it. With that in mind, I'm glad I bought it at a lower price from Amazon. That said, I've just added it to my "John Foxx instrumental" iTunes playlist, so I'll be mixing this all up and having parts of A Secret Life playing perhaps between tracks from Cathedral Oceans and Translucence or My Lost City. Maybe then it'll work for me a little better, which is how I eventually came to adore Translucence, which I didn't like at all at first.

I struggle to get through Drift Music, so for me A Secret Life poses an even greater challenge. It's an album of atmosphere rather than anything really musical, sounding more like a sound effects record, or the soundtrack to a strange science-fiction film; certainly not something you'd put on to have guests round. Unless you don't want them to stay very long.

Great review Alex,

Your thought's on this album are very close to mine.

I wish there was a bit more John on it to be honest.

I've yet to listen to it on headphones.
It wont be tonight either since I've had a migraine all day.

Later in the week hopefully.

Brian

I would definitely recommend headphones, and naturally at a comfortable (low) volume: there are some lovely sounds in the background that benefit from the use of cans.

After the second listen, I like this. I wasn't sure after Listen 1 which merely took on board the occasional glitches, interrupted/effected passages of sweet piano, and sections of metallic percussion droning repetitively. Like finding your way around a new town. After Listen 2, these drones seem to be subtly shifting much more. Unless I am being generous and merely WANT them to shift - that is a possibility. I will say though that I have heard numerous albums that are just one track and really do seem to go nowhere for an hour or more: this for me is not one of those (not least because it is in six parts and relatively short).

I am not sure quite where the music and I have gone between the start and end but I find myself pondering the title a lot. Which part is the secret life: the piano or the percussion? Or is the whole of it a secret life? The piano could represent happy social events that are split by periods of introspection, solitude and drudgery. Who are all these people we know when they disappear behind their facades? Who do I become when I step outside my front door? Alternatively, perhaps the piano sections are the secret life: the quiet pride in artistic projects, or simple pleasures such as noticing the change of seasons, whatever.

Bottom line is I like it. I think.

I listened to it on the headphones this morning and was pleasantly surprised - you are much more surrounded by all the sounds and jingles and more absorbed into the atmosphere. If anything I enjoyed it more on the headphones. But clearly you need to be in a relatively quiet environment! One of the nice things about ASL is that there's something new to discover with each listen, whether it's a subtle background note or a new clang.

I don't dislike this album, but I am a bit frustrated by it. To me it feels there could have been much more to it than what there is. Did it really take three people to make something so sparse?!

Anyway initially, it doesn't "take" me anywhere or give me any sense of visualisation, if that means anything to anyone!! But maybe that'll change in time. In many ways it only feels like half of something that needs its other half - visuals - a bit like TCM, except that clearly stands up as an album in its own right.

You're absolutely right about the listening environment - it's a vital part of the interpretation and experience of any "ambient" music.

To appreciate it properly you have to actively "listen" to it. I find in general that John's music, and especially the 'instrumental' material that I prefer can't just be 'heard' and least of all not in fragments.

Except that I don't regard A Secret Life as ambient music at all.
Are we listening to the same album??

For me, this is more of a complete piece than most of the other material John has released recently. It is absolutely bursting with memories, imprints, recollections -I have made notes that read "one of the most intensely personal albums Foxx has ever released" and "experimental and daring. Challenging, taking sonic risks with his own emotions". It's very sinister and confrontational too perhaps that's what is upsetting people?

Far from going nowhere, it took me on a journey through John's factory townscape, and dreams of escape. Fantasy and frustration. I found the themes and ideas expressed here quite threatening, and that is great to see because it gives the album genuine identity and uniqueness.

Unless I'm missing something, there's more Foxx in here than in anything since, well, since...

I'll come back to that, but I am disagreeing with the whole stark, empty simple thing I'm reading here.
It's rich with presence and melodrama, brilliantly composed.

One of John's least familiar releases, but isn't it good to see him still doing things differently and sending us a proper curveball now and then, lest we forget where he's coming from in our misconception that we've actually caught up with him.

Made sense to me, at least.

Based on one listen (with a lot of distractions), my main problem with this seems likely to be that there isn't enough of it. Some beautiful moments here.

Got my copy on Wednesday and had one full listen to it until yet.
This is for sure "new" stuff of John and very unusual. But based on my first listen I can say it is interesting stuff - very nice for relaxing after a hard day. Certainly no commercial stuff but nice. I can imagine this is no music for everyone's taste but I "have an ear for it".

I think the best method is listen to it with headphones. Will do it next...

Quite. At the risk of sounding like I buy my music by the length, did it really take 3 people to come up with a scant 36 minutes of sub-Eno ambience with a little Blade Runner thrown in?

I’ve seen this in the shops for £15 and would be fuming if I’d paid that sort of dosh for something so slight.

Disappointing.