Recoil

CDs:
Hydrology 1+2 (87), Faith Healer CDS (92), Bloodline (92)

     Yes, Alan Wilder is a member of Depeche Mode. But please don't 
use that to judge his work as Recoil (either way), because his solo 
work is definitely after something different than Depeche Mode's 
stadium-rock stature.
     Much alt.rave attention has been lavished on the _Faith Healer_ 
single, because of the remix work by LFO (godlike) and Moby (yawn). I 
will note only that the keyboard line in several of the remixes 
sounds remarkably like it came from Humanoid's "Stakker Humanoid." 
Other people have noted Moby's rap on _Bloodlines_ (in his defense, I 
don't think it's that bad, and I consider myself a fan of hip hop) or 
Toni Halliday's (from Curve) singing.
     I personally feel that _Bloodline_ is overrated, and that
Recoil's important work is _Hydrology_. Supposedly all of the sounds
on this album (and the accompanying 1+2 EP) were sampled from Depeche 
Mode songs (which is believable), but it sounds a hell of a lot more 
like Philip Glass than Depeche Mode. 
     Minimalistic and repetitive piano loops are slowly layered 
until something symphonic is created. Or various bleeps are slowly 
mixed together, again with symphonic results. The resemblance to 
Glass is striking, but I find Recoil to be a little more accessible. 
Good relaxation or nap music.