Reload – A Collection Of Short Stories

Still one of my favourite albums of all time. Intelligent, atmospheric, brilliantly produced piece of techno that sends shivers down the spine on every listen.

1993 beginning of the future sound of today .. ambient .. mix plus couple real hard core flavaz 💪

Saturday, Feb 5th, year 2022. The Enlinghtenment just an instant before the Event Horizon - finally there after almost 30 years of.... short stories. From the centre of the chest.

I don't exactly how I stumbled onto this somewhat ambitions album that was released at the beginning of the British IDM heyday, slightly after the debut of Warp Records' B12 and just a few months before Autechre and the Black Dog. Reload covers all that territory, from mechanical contraptions to bittersweet dreampop to upbeat breaks with electronic pianos---while veering off into dark cinematic soundscapes that would later be explored by Future Sound of London and Disjecta. All of this is sitting on a single release, so it absolutely deserves the hype it is getting here. It also makes it somewhat uneven, which really isn't a bad thing: it's what you'd expect when artists aren't afraid to experiment in between their melodic hooks. However, if you like or dislike the opening three tracks, you will find the tone changes quite a bit after that, well, several times, during the course of the album.
I would rate "A collection.." high for all the above reasons. If this period and style of electronic music that was soon to be labeled "IDM" is interesting to you, this one is worth seeking out.

Some 25 years on, this remains a beautiful, sublime and timeless piece of work. I was very lucky to find a sealed copy a few years ago, which is now a treasured part of my collection, having only previously owned a CDr copy. There are a few comments on this page about a repress and on balance I probably agree - if it were to be done, then it should be done over 3 x LP, because I feel that on the inside tracks of the 2 x LP, there is a reduction in sound level / quality which would be my only crticism of the original version.

In any case: masterpiece, classic, timeless - no amount of adjectives really do this justice - the music speaks for itself.

Absolutely dumbfounded that this record has not been reissued since a late 1990s cd reissue. Please, please reissue on vinyl.

As others have noted, excellent electronic album. The one thing I'd like to clarify is that several mention the stories in the booklet - swk24 claims "the booklet of stories is not that necessary" while spa5tik0lonz notes "the short stories fit perfectly with each track" though it's unclear just how this is meant. Regardless, the latter is the correct statement. Here is why:

The booklet starts by stating this is a work of "duo-sensory fiction." What this means (I figured this out when I started to wonder..."What if you try to read the booklet exactly along with the music?") is that there are cues in the text that line up with samples/events in the songs. At first it seems like it's working, then not, but as you adjust your reading pace you will realize the entire booklet matches the entire CD. It's incredible. Really one of the most amazing works I'm aware of once this is taken into consideration (and it's already one of the best electronic albums ever made!).

I cannot for a single moment fathom why I sold my copy of this many many years ago.
I still have it on CD but it's not the same as vinyl + the booklet
Why?... :(

One of the best albums ever made.
jealously guarded.
A2 Peschi (masterpiece).

Absolutely extraordinary. Peschi, La Soleil et La Mer and Event Horizon the pick of the lot here