Rockbites: Mount Florida’s extraordinary Arrived Phoenix

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February 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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Mount Florida’s extraordinary Arrived Phoenix
12 February 2001

Released just two weeks ago in the US, the extraordinary debut album from Glasgow’s Mount Florida ought to be racking up serious sales. But so far it has been a commercial flop, with rankings on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (where it was released in October) right down in the basement. The lucky few who have discovered it, I guess, just aren’t telling.
    Mount Florida is the techno/ noise/ dub/ trance/ ambient/ dance project of MP Lancaster (Mike Lancaster), formerly of Muslimgauze, and Twitch (Keith McIvor), DJ at Glasgow’s Pure club and a member of Vodershow. They played their live debut last July, and released a string of EPs prior to the current LP.
    The album title Arrived Phoenix, perhaps a reference to an imagined train trip, suggests the musical travelog that is this record. The set pursues a dreamlike track through strange and wildly varying locales, exploring territory visited by the likes of Joy Division, New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Primal Scream, Death In Vegas, Massive Attack, The KLF, and Holgar Czukay. But Twitch and Lancaster’s copious creativity and far ranging imagination make this a surprising and memorable journey. How many pop records do you listen to that leave you feeling you’ve actually gone somewhere?
    Masterfully orchestrating a palette that includes electronics, solo violin, power chords, programmed and acoustic percussion, sound effects, and whispered, sung, and spoken voice (with the words of Noam Chomsky on one track, no less), Arrived Phoenix by Mount Florida easily garners four bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

| Mount Florida on Matador Europe | | interview on Re:mote Induction ezine | | MP3 files from Matador Europe | | bio | | discography | | CD | | top of page |

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