THE SENSUALISTS

The Sensualists/Various Artists: Adaptations
[Willamette Week]
In one of the most intense expressions of the mutual love fest that Portland's music scene often spawns, a gang of local DJ types lavishes the remix treatment on the Sensualists. It may seem a little weird for a local band that's not exactly torching the pop charts to receive such a luxe going-over, but then, this is Portland, where rocking locally is taken seriously. The Sensualists' dream-addled dance pop twists like psychoactive Silly Putty in the hands of electro-Wunderkinder like E*Rock, Zac Love and Emperor Penguin. The hot original tempos, for the most part, mellow out into chill meditations; pop it in to lend the ragged end of the night a particularly local smoothness.

THE SENSUALISTS: The Sensualists
[Ink 19]
One: I love the name. "Sensuality" is such a beautiful word, and people have a tendency to weigh it down with sexual/romantic crap. Long live the senses and their celebration. Two: I love the band. The Sensualists have a low-key electronic style, fronted by the silken-voiced Anna Fidler. Forsaking the high-energy approach most other bands in the field would take, the Sensualists build up their tracks layer by layer, beep by beep, into a richly textured quilt of sound -- you can snuggle under it, get nice and warm, and lose hours exploring the different scraps of cloth and stitching. "Dips and Peaks" is about as dancy as it gets, with an "ah-ah-oo" chorus that sticks to your ears like warm lavender honey while samples and drum loops cavort around the room. (Carl Glaser)

The Sensualists: s/t (ADR)
[Drawer B]
The Sensualists hail from Portland, Oregon and have concocted an unusual collage of pop, electronic experimentation, and sampling along with some pitch-bended, Luscious Jackson-esque vocals. The band's sound is based on the noises found in a wide range of vintage keyboards, most notably the Farfisa and the Univox. Unlike contemporaries such as Stereolab, The Sensualists are not a throw back to musical styles past. The emphasis is on exploration as opposed to imitation. The tones are familiar because these instruments have easily recognizable sounds, but The Sensualists layer these tones in such a way as to make them sound somewhat new and fresh.
"Bedtime For Frances" sounds like an instrumental outtake from the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head while "Spacial Bodies" harkens back to early-eighties electro-pop with nursery-rhyme vocal melodies. It seems to have a heavy New Order presence as well. The constant thump of the drum machine coupled with its stark bass line drenched in reverb recalls New Order's seminal album, Movement. There is also a trippy, psychedelic feel to the album best evidenced in "Twitter Glitter" that would certainly please Brian Eno or even Primal Scream fans. The Sensualists also specialize in fluffy, danceable pop ("Clips And Peaks"). This very promising debut lures you in with its spaced out melodies, warm synthetics and hypnotic grooves, but it's the overwhleming sense of dilettentism that sets it apart. -Eric G.

THE SENSUALISTS: s/t CD
[TAPE OP no 16]
This band is simply great. I've seen them put on hypnotic shows of their Kraftwerk/Stereolab-ish pop and this record captures what is cool about that but also works more as a listening experience and doesn't seem burdened with "portraying the band". They recorded some at home ("upstairs and downstairs") on 8-track, some with Ben Lund at InstaFame (on ADAT) and some with Bob Abeyta. Despite, or because of all these sessions, the pieces fit together and create a cool flow to the CD. One of my favorite Portland releases last year! -Larry Crane

"THE SENSUALISTS: It's a question of mentality"
[MUCCIO dec '99]
It could be said about the banjo: lend attention to the debut of the Sensualistsyou would come to think to the returned of this overbearing instrumentfashionable. It is, in the twelve compositions, the voice de Anna fidler andthe most ingenious alchemies - tastierine, farfisa, samplings, univox, a"constructed bass-machine" in house - that produce a state of habit/being thatdeserve at least being marked on the cover: "I listen to this CD because I'mpart of the retro space sound, especially electronica." --(rough translation from Italian)

THE SENSUALISTS: s/t CD
GIANT ROBOT #17
Turntablism meets moogs and farfisas in this Chumbawumba [?] meets Pram-esque project. This deliciously psychotic blend of swirly electronic pop undulates, drifting back and forth like raindrops falling every other second as clouds move to intercept in those moments. This is music to lose youself in. Tinkly and twinkly, this groovieness is addicting. -pl

THE SENSUALISTS : s/t CD
[ALTERNATIVE PRESS feb 2000 ] ****
Like a post-Stereolab reformation of Book of Love, The Sensualists mix song form and randy little grooves in a manner befitting '80's synth pop rather than turn-of-the-century music making. And that's a wonderful thing. Anna Fidler has that semi-flat voice that Book of Love made sound so sexy and musician Philip Cooper likes to squeak and ping his keyboards like a spage-age bachelor. "Dips & Peaks" is pigtail-indie coy as Fidler coos "ah-ah ah-ah ah-ooooh!" and Asa Metric's turntablism scratches the beats in just the right spot. "The Biggest Man Alive" is not about Magnus Ver Magnussun, though it's carnival-like melody indicates it might be about Andre the Giant. In "Spacial Bodies" Fidler deadpans, "By the law of psychic sound/The keyboard knows how to get down," and you just believe her. The Sensualists make silly, seductive pop. Love them with someone you love. -Christopher Porter

THE SENSUALISTS : s/t CD
[Splendidezine.com]
This Portland, OR four-piece makes unique, danceable electronic pop music. A mixture of guitars, banjo, mc-303,groovebox, drums, Korg Polysix, farfisa, electric piano, electricband, Univox, Echoplex, turntables and a homemade bass Machine round out the package. A space theme weaves in and out of the tracks, making each cut even more ethereal. Anna Fidler's occasional vocals provide the necessary break from the electronic beats, telling silly stories about a trip to the zoo and a girl named Ginger who lives in Hawaii. A formidable first release. (ha-n)


	The Sensualists/Various Artists: Adaptations [Willamette Week] In one of the most intense expressions of the mutual love fest that Portland's music scene often spawns, a gang of local DJ types lavishes the remix treatment on the Sensualists. It may seem a little weird for a local band that's not exactly torching the pop charts to receive such a luxe going-over, but then, this is Portland, where rocking locally is taken seriously. The Sensualists' dream-addled dance pop twists like psychoactive Silly Putty in the hands of electro-Wunderkinder like ERock, Zac Love and Emperor Penguin. The hot original tempos, for the most part, mellow out into chill meditations; pop it in to lend the ragged end of the night a particularly local smoothness. THE SENSUALISTS: The Sensualists [Ink 19] One: I love the name. "Sensuality" is such a beautiful word, and people have a tendency to weigh it down with sexual/romantic crap. Long live the senses and their celebration. Two: I love the band. The Sensualists have a low-key electronic style, fronted by the silken-voiced Anna Fidler. Forsaking the high-energy approach most other bands in the field would take, the Sensualists build up their tracks layer by layer, beep by beep, into a richly textured quilt of sound -- you can snuggle under it, get nice and warm, and lose hours exploring the different scraps of cloth and stitching. "Dips and Peaks" is about as dancy as it gets, with an "ah-ah-oo" chorus that sticks to your ears like warm lavender honey while samples and drum loops cavort around the room. (Carl Glaser) The Sensualists: s/t (ADR) [Drawer B] The Sensualists hail from Portland, Oregon and have concocted an unusual collage of pop, electronic experimentation, and sampling along with some pitch-bended, Luscious Jackson-esque vocals. The band's sound is based on the noises found in a wide range of vintage keyboards, most notably the Farfisa and the Univox. Unlike contemporaries such as Stereolab, The Sensualists are not a throw back to musical styles past. The emphasis is on exploration as opposed to imitation. The tones are familiar because these instruments have easily recognizable sounds, but The Sensualists layer these tones in such a way as to make them sound somewhat new and fresh. "Bedtime For Frances" sounds like an instrumental outtake from the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head while "Spacial Bodies" harkens back to early-eighties electro-pop with nursery-rhyme vocal melodies. It seems to have a heavy New Order presence as well. The constant thump of the drum machine coupled with its stark bass line drenched in reverb recalls New Order's seminal album, Movement. There is also a trippy, psychedelic feel to the album best evidenced in "Twitter Glitter" that would certainly please Brian Eno or even Primal Scream fans. The Sensualists also specialize in fluffy, danceable pop ("Clips And Peaks"). This very promising debut lures you in with its spaced out melodies, warm synthetics and hypnotic grooves, but it's the overwhleming sense of dilettentism that sets it apart. -Eric G. THE SENSUALISTS: s/t CD* [TAPE OP no 16] This band is simply great. I've seen them put on hypnotic shows of their Kraftwerk/Stereolab-ish pop and this record captures what is cool about that but also works more as a listening experience and doesn't seem burdened with "portraying the band". They recorded some at home ("upstairs and downstairs") on 8-track, some with Ben Lund at InstaFame (on ADAT) and some with Bob Abeyta. Despite, or because of all these sessions, the pieces fit together and create a cool flow to the CD. One of my favorite Portland releases last year! -Larry Crane "THE SENSUALISTS: It's a question of mentality" [MUCCIO dec '99] It could be said about the banjo: lend attention to the debut of the Sensualistsyou would come to think to the returned of this overbearing instrumentfashionable. It is, in the twelve compositions, the voice de Anna fidler andthe most ingenious alchemies - tastierine, farfisa, samplings, univox, a"constructed bass-machine" in house - that produce a state of habit/being thatdeserve at least being marked on the cover: "I listen to this CD because I'mpart of the retro space sound, especially electronica." --(rough translation from Italian) THE SENSUALISTS: s/t CD GIANT ROBOT #17 Turntablism meets moogs and farfisas in this Chumbawumba [?] meets Pram-esque project. This deliciously psychotic blend of swirly electronic pop undulates, drifting back and forth like raindrops falling every other second as clouds move to intercept in those moments. This is music to lose youself in. Tinkly and twinkly, this groovieness is addicting. -pl THE SENSUALISTS : s/t CD [ALTERNATIVE PRESS feb 2000 ] ** Like a post-Stereolab reformation of Book of Love, The Sensualists mix song form and randy little grooves in a manner befitting '80's synth pop rather than turn-of-the-century music making. And that's a wonderful thing. Anna Fidler has that semi-flat voice that Book of Love made sound so sexy and musician Philip Cooper likes to squeak and ping his keyboards like a spage-age bachelor. "Dips & Peaks" is pigtail-indie coy as Fidler coos "ah-ah ah-ah ah-ooooh!" and Asa Metric's turntablism scratches the beats in just the right spot. "The Biggest Man Alive" is not about Magnus Ver Magnussun, though it's carnival-like melody indicates it might be about Andre the Giant. In "Spacial Bodies" Fidler deadpans, "By the law of psychic sound/The keyboard knows how to get down," and you just believe her. The Sensualists make silly, seductive pop. Love them with someone you love. -Christopher Porter THE SENSUALISTS : s/t CD [Splendidezine.com**] This Portland, OR four-piece makes unique, danceable electronic pop music. A mixture of guitars, banjo, mc-303,groovebox, drums, Korg Polysix, farfisa, electric piano, electricband, Univox, Echoplex, turntables and a homemade bass Machine round out the package. A space theme weaves in and out of the tracks, making each cut even more ethereal. Anna Fidler's occasional vocals provide the necessary break from the electronic beats, telling silly stories about a trip to the zoo and a girl named Ginger who lives in Hawaii. A formidable first release. (ha-n)


thesensualists.com (official Sensualists site)