Techno with king-sized hooks and unmissable samples.ĭespite electronic music's diversity and quick progression during the 1990s - from rave/hardcore to ambient/downtempo andīack again, thanksto the breakbeat/drum'n'bass movement - Howlett modified The Prodigy's sound only sparingly swapping Howlett whose studio wizardry launched The Prodigy to the top of the charts, spinning a web of hard-hitting breakbeat True, Flint's spiky hairstyle and numerous piercings often made forbetter advertising, but it was producer Liam True, Flint's spiky hairstyle and numerous piercings often made forbetter advertisin.
Original atmosphere of the British rave scene even whileleaning uncomfortably close to arena rock showmanship and punk Keith Flint, the group crossed over tothe mainstream of pop music with an incendiary live experience that approximated the Ablydefeating the image-unconscious attitude of most electronic artists in favor of a focus on nominal frontman
Not of the pharmaceutical kind.The Prodigy navigated the high wire, balancing artistic merit and mainstream visibility with more flair than any electronica act Being on drugs back in 1992 hearing this for the first time, now that would be an experience. It is a frenetic, upbeat affair which is nothing like what they would sound like on Fat Of The Land, nor should it be. Every track sits nicely alongside each other.Įxperience is definitive of the first era of The Prodigy, that is The Prodigy of the early 90's hardcore electronica scene. Despite being a little bit different, it's all gravy. It is a lengthy ambient track that takes it's time building up from the beginning with strings, hammer noises, and samples of British weathermen which ultimately explodes into a similar tone as the rest of the album. With its focus on sparse basslines and percussion, Charly is unique as far as the album goes, but it is Weather Experience which is the real standout. The string samples weaving around all this blockiness give the music a heavenly, ethereal quality and the albums most popular track Out Of Space is the best example of this ( I'll take your brain to another dimension!). Tracks such as Music Reach, Wind It Up, Your Love, Everybody In The Place, Fire and Ruff In The Jungle sound incredibly fresh with their focus on piano rhythms and intricate electronic arrangements despite the archaic production, but even so something about the old school digital gloss to it all has a quality I can only describe as the audio equivalent of pixel art. Fast, upbeat, driven by repetitive old school synths and breakbeats, the energy of this era of rave music is almost unparalelled. This album would come to define the hardcore electronic music style which other acts such as SL2 and Acen were making at the time. Experience would appear to be a culmination of those days, and is a frenetic, energetic mind*** that does not let go.
The truth of the matter is the group had been releasing hardcore electronic releases since the late 80's, several EP's such as What Evil Lurks and Charly gained popularity and became firmly entrenched in the drug fueled British rave scene at the time. Many who are only vaguely familiar with The Prodigy regard The Fat of The Land as the only album worth bothering with, and the abrasive industrial-electro cum hard trance whatever the hell they were skirting with at the time as the signature sound of the group. How about the explosive, energetic days of 1992? That's much more appropriate. The groups debut release Experience brings us back to the dim, dead days of 1992 or perhaps that is not an good description. Indeed, many claim their post-FOTL material such as Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned and Invaders Must Die are completely disposable and have already signalled this, but it doesn't matter to those who still have fond memories of discovering The Prodigy's work for the first time. The Prodigy are one of the most popular electronic music acts in the world today, and though the peak of popularity was in 1997 with the release of The Fat Of The Land Liam Howlett and co's project still enjoys a massive cult fanbase that will follow them to the bitter end.
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