Enigma

Enigma's LSD: Love, Sensuality, Devotion: The Remix Collection was originally issued in 2001. Its resurfacing has been desired not only by its cult legion of fans, but by occasional listeners as well -- those who purchased the greatest-hits album of the same title. There are nine cuts here, all of them dance mixes, all of them drenched in rhythm machines and lush overtones of strings, minimalist melodic inventions, sequencers, and samples. This blend of samples and additional music recorded by Enigma main man Michael Crétu and Jens Gad is, without cynicism, electronic music for the bedroom set. Certainly it can be enjoyed on a dancefloor, but this is intimate music, meant to be shared by those for whom body politics and sexual imagination are prime concerns. The music here, beginning with "Turn Around [Northern Lights Remix]," is far from decadent: its pulse, twists, and turns are seamless; there is an obsessive attention to the details of texture, dynamic, and (of course) rhythm; it becomes close, nearly humid in its intimacy. The vocals, whether offered untreated or coming through the mix through a vocoder, are human -- they can be encountered and provide a kind of instruction the rest of the record. The house-driven power of "The Age of Loneliness [Enigmatic Club Mix]" is compulsive, pushed forward with additional elements from Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman's "Songs from the Victorious City." Sensuality is inherent in the complex, beautifully constructed backbeats that underscore the four-on-the-floor rhythm. The huge bass drums in the heart of "Return to Innocence [380 Midnight Mix]" are slow (88 bpm) and authoritative, even forceful. When the vocals cross the rhythms and the echo puts that whisper into the heart of the beat, it's irresistibly sensual. The raw, tough transformation of "Sadeness, Pt. 1 [Violent U.S. Remix]" is simply a perfect elucidation of the title, and might shock those with its use of sexual politics against the impassioned mystical chanting of the monks. The darkness is further underscored in the enchanting and darkly mysterious "Principles of Lust [Everlasting Last Remix]." It's mercurial as its rhythms shift and change shape; they become as discontinuous as the orgasm is a discontinuous experience. The bottom line is that this recording will have a wide appeal to those who listen for the purpose of creating atmosphere as well as those who seek something a little shadier in their dancefloor experiences. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide