LFO - LFO

Not much said about this ep.

I know the title track has always got most of the attention (not without merit) with its spine massaging bassline, hard 808's and lush chords, but....

First of all, track 4 was the defintion of the new direction that techno was taking me musically when I was younger. Totally otherworldly sounds with menacing melodies and snapping beats.

Then, probe, hard, grating 808 rhythms with a bubbling bassline with a few breakdowns, washed out strings drifting in and out of the track.
It doesn't do much but it doesn't have to, the elements of the track just sit together so perfectly.

In all, one of the best ep's ever made imo.

Dark scary and very deep early rave tecno with some very strange bleeps and the clinical voice LFO from Yorkshire UK England.Basslines don't come any lower than this.A classic tune that went on to seeing drum and bass get ideas from.LFO,Low Frequency Oscillator ruined my loadspeakers,be warned don't turn up your volume to much while playing this track.Released on the excellent Warp Record label also from Sheffield Yorkshire UK,i don't think Warp released any bad Music back in 1990.

A funny note: When this record came out, German dance magazine Network Press (quite important at that time, now defunct) described it as "Telefondisplayhouse ohne Neulandgewinnung" which means "Phone display house that fails to break down new frontiers".

I'll never forget the impact of those blowing, overwhelming strongly distorted basslines of LFO's homonym classic, back in 1990. How many sub-woofers have been crushed by the cataclysm of its sound waves since this new groundbreaking spot?
It was so powerful, so different from anything anyone has ever heard before.
The tune’s unique combination of that fat basslines, obscure atmospheres and bleep synths constituted a kind of a blueprint for the future Techno generation.
More than acclaimed by the specialists, the LFO track would remain the peak of the Low Frequency Oscillator's journey through the avant-garde - and believe me, Mark Bell & Gez Varley knew how to do it.
On the other hand, it's funny how the labels change with the curse of time... for people like Colin Dale of Kiss FM and DJ Mauricio (A.K.A. Mau Mau) would call the classic in question 'Techno-House' at that time, no matter how strange it may seem to the contemporary electronic heads.
Sheffield was the homeland for the new-based Bleep Techno realm of WARP, the label responsible for LFO’s release. The authors project of that ‘Low Frequency Oscillating track’ was from Leeds though, same city of Nightmares On Wax and Unique 3.
The trend-setter Bleep anthem had a more complex structure than any other one of that kind, and the consequences of it on the electronic scene since the nineties would be huge. That's why there is no better expression to define it than art, no matter how you label it. LFO was more than justly included on WARP 10+2 Classics compilation, a standard to understand the World of Weird And Radical Projects.

The bass was so low on this track that many club speakers blew when 1st playing this in 1990 - but then again LFO *does* stand for Low Frequency Oscillator!

The "Smooth, ruff & rubbery" of LFO definitely wanted to go more experimental rather than just straight dancefloor and strictly grooves, so was the case of this timeless single that represented the first contact of many electronic music supporters with techno.
The 'LFO (Leeds Warehouse Mix)' is the highest standard for Sheffield's bleep techno, announcing a new era for the perimeters of the underground electronica. The low frequencies oscillation on an aesthetic perspective caused an impact without similar on the history of techno. A devastating bass, the bleep sounds and the futuristic atmosphere sounded very new to everyone’s ears. ‘Track 4’ and ‘Probe’ were also finely polished tunes with the same bleep attachment. Through this twelve inch, Mark Bell & Gez Varley’s chef d’oeuvres became a testament of the new paradigms of the dance music…

Was just reading the comments about LFO original and thought it would be harsh without saying how good Mentok 1 is on this remix 12". Much sampled and full of production tricks miles ahead of its time, you just can't beat the gained tambourine dropping in over the main riff. Needless to say, the sub-bass is another winner.

This was my first 12" vinyl purchase and I only wish that every record I bought was as good! As "Kaicho" said i also have the origional pink copy with sticker, which i think was distributed earlier by warp up north! I can still play this record and be taken back to being 15 years of age and feeling like I was part of something special, it summed up a what thought the future had in store, through electronic music. And as for when i turned it over and nearly ripped my speakers with "Probe 4" a track which has yet to be beaten for deep throbbing bass....A favourite, a classic......We never did all end up in silver space suits driving hover boards!!!

A club classic and one that brings back many fond memories of my days as a teenage tearaway, on the stage at the Warehouse in Leeds with Boy Wonder from Nightmares on Wax rewinding the record on the request of the sweaty, heaving masses below him. If the bass and beats in this record dont move you, nothing ever will.

Releasing a track with a "Leeds Warehouse Mix" on it certainly brought a smile to my face when I first saw this in Crash! Records in Leeds, as I was a regular at that particular club at the time!
I've been playing this tune occasionally for years, and I last dropped it into a set a few weeks ago, and it STILL fills floors, even 13 years on! An early techno classic.