I.E.M.

The early Porcupine Tree albums Up The Downstairs and Signify list among my favourite albums ever. So you will not be surprised that I am entirely fascinated by this first I.E.M. album, an instrumental project where Wilson fully indulges in his obsession with kraut, space-rock and progressive electronic.

Some Highlights.

The Gospel According to IEM is a most exiting tribute to the sound of Neu!, Can and early Hawkwind. A classic Neu! groove sets the pace for this wonderful upbeat trip into space-rock anno 1996.

Fie Kesh is very different, with strong astern influences created by percussion, acoustic guitar improvisations and a looping bass that sits somewhere between Pink Floyd's Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Wilson's own Waiting Phase2. It's a great tune but I think that Ozric Tentacles and Djam Karet have done this better before.

Deafman veers back into Neu! mode, with a guitar loop that can't differ more then two notes from any of Neu!'s own riffs. Together with some stirring drum beat it serves as the vehicle for layers of backwards guitar noises, synth bleeps, oscillators, kraut nonsense vocals, reverby guitar solos, you name it. It builds up to a euphoric climax of noise and chaos. The works!

The album ends with Headphone Dust, which consists of beautiful quiet acoustic guitar strumming and eerie slide guitar. Overall, this a splendid homage to space-rock that you should give a listen if you're into the instrumental side of the bands listed here. 4.5 stars.

— First review of this album —

This was the second recording from Steven Wilson's I.E.M. project. A short EP that included "Headphone Dust" from the first album. The title track here is quite different from the debut as Steven uses a lot of samples and humour to go along with the great music.I guess you could say this is more experimental but it's a lot of fun too.It opens with a child saying the alphabet up to the letter "Q" then Wilson comes in talking(acting) as the leader of this "legendary alternative poetry band" called BORIS THE COW(haha).The music then kicks in and it sounds great as we get a heavy beat and then the guitar comes in ripping it up.A brief humerous vocal section takes over around 4 minutes.Then a change again as we get percussion with organ.Another change as what sounds like synths and mellotron flood the soundscape(nice).It ends with the child picking up where he left off at "R" as he finishes the alphabet to end it. Interesting to say the least. "Headphone Dust" is such a great track.As i said in my review of the debut it does have a PORCUPINE TREE flavour to it.I just love the synths and guitar on this one.

4.5 stars.Fans of Psychedlic/Spacerock and Krautrock will love this album.I'm not surprised to see "loserboy" rate this with 5 stars either, we defintely share a common passion for experimental music and Steven Wilson has had this love for a long time as well.This was the first I.E.M. album and it was released the same year as "Signify" in 1996. "The Gospel According To I.E.M." opens with atmosphere galore,we can hear spacey winds as other sounds come and go.Drums a minute in.Mellotron after 2 minutes.Guitar before 3 1/2 minutes.This is great as he just jams for some time then it settles before 6 minutes and it becomes very spacey.It kicks back in before 7 1/2 minutes.A mellotron storm 11 minutes in as it calms down again to the end. "The Last Will And Testament Of Emma Peel" opens with different sounds coming and going including drums,piano,synths etc.It's spacey anyway. It becomes very spacey 2 1/2 minutes in.Quite dark and eerie at times.This soundscape gets quite loud before 5 minutes before settling back with mellotron.A real haunting soundscape late. "Fie Kesh" opens with a gong before we get a beat with percussion,bass and knocking sounds as spacey sounds swirl.Acoustic guitar comes in.Trippy stuff.Electric guitar 4 minutes in.The beat stops late and it becomes quite eerie. "Deafman" opens with spacey winds as the guitar comes in .Drums join in as winds continue.This is uptempo and drum led.Vocal sounds come and go for quite a while.It becomes powerful before 5 minutes as the guitar lights it up. "Headphone Dust" is the only track that made me think of PORCUPINE TREE.Relaxed acoustic guitar to open as synths join in.Electric guitar joins in as well.Nice.Great track! Of the three I.E.M. studio albums Paul Thompson from PlanetMellotron feels this is the best one.Hard to disagree.A must for all you space cadets.

This is one of those albums where you will have to conclude if one reviewer gives it 5 stars and the other 2 that the truth is not somewhere in the middle but it's more of an either love or hate case. Because this is an album of extremes and then you get ratings like this.

This music must be coming from some dark corner of Steve Wilson's musical brain. Don't get me wrong, I think the man is a genius and I've always said that. But this must be just about the limit where someone of his calibar can get to. If you expect anything that has something to do with normal or melodic music: forget it ! Why I bought it ? This was because of the stream track Arcadia Son (to my surprise I see this track is no longer there, 2 others took its place) which sounded really acceptable to me. It wasn't even that far from style companions as HIDRIA SPACEFOLK and KINGSTON WALL and I quite like those bands. I also like psychedelic/space by Ozric Tentacles but it appeared that after listening the entire album this is a totally different ball game. You could call this extreme psychedelic or something because in my opnion it doesn't get weirder than this. The M (I.E.M.) that stands for Mind[%*!#] is really suitable here.

Arcadia Son was in the end the only track that came close to normal music but the rest: well, see (or listen) for yourself, because after all, this is only my opinion and I'm just a simple neo/metal progger who is just a little bit sorry he went for this one. Summarizing I would say: 5 stars for originality and 1 star for musical/melodic aspects. But I don't doubt there could be many who really favour this one. So I will leave it totally up to you. 2 stars for my taste (the extra star for guts).

— First review of this album —

Beautiful, concise, strong and coherent. Few experimental records show a tight situation between a band and the mastermind, in this particular case, music-wiz STEVEN WILSON created a passage of 6 different soundscapes from "regular" jam/krautrock to noise and finishing with ambient textures. Each passage is diffenet but linked to each other, like a story to be told, from happiness to despair and sometimes the recurrent "happy ending" (not in this case, beacuse "VI" is more a far cry of anguish and fear that leave you in awe). So... musicianship at its best... a reminder of some PAINKILLER:EXECUTION GROUND texures, with hard atonal flutes and saxes mixed with strong and deep guitars, with a very strong foundation of bass loops and drum-infected rhythms. The magical of it is that there's no lyrics, not a single voice not even as ambient, a complete instrumental phase of one of music greatest geniuses of all time. Contrary to what has been specified in here, there's a "band" in different time and space situations... not a solo recording a collaboration in itself as SW has stated sometimes. A true jewel... actually, those who have enjoyed PT'S METANOIA might find this record amusing. peace

I bought this CD because Steven Wilson is a god among men. I.E.M. is an amazing piece of work, but I must warn everyone, this is nothing like the rest of his stuff. I bought I.E.M. after hearing Porcupine Tree's Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, and Deadwing, Blackfield's self-titled debut, and No Man's Together We're Stranger. After hearing five amazing albums that involved Steven Wilson, I knew I had to get my hands on everything he's worked on.

To my surprise, I.E.M. is nothing like Steven Wilson's other projects. It is ALL Steven Wilson, no one else, and it is basically a compilation of different arrangements he's thrown together. Every song is instrumental (no vocals) and Wilson uses mainly guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, and samples. Four out of the five songs are groovy beats and keyboard/sound effects, which Wilson blends together rather nicely, while he improvises a final layer of guitar over it. Each song has it's own unique character, which makes the album great to listen to the whole way through.

Overall, I recommend this album to any die-hard S. Wilson fans, like myself, who wants to hear what the genius can come up with in his most experimental state.

This album casts Steve Wilson's quest for music exploration in addition to his collaboration with his band Porcupine Tree and other projects namely No-Man, Bass Communion and Blackfield. IEM which stands for "The Incredible Expanding Mind[%*!#]" is basically Steve Wilson's one man band because he plays all instruments by himself; exploring his capability in soundscape and space psychedelic. All four tracks plus one bonus track featured in this CD have indidually comprises music with basic repetition while sound effects from instrument used by Steve Wilson provides multitude of musical textures throughout the album.

The album opener"The Gospel According to the I.E.M" (12:56) is opened with approximately one-minute ambient music in silent mood followed with repeated drum beats and basslines overlaid by keyboard work and effects that brings the music flows. He music is similar with Ozric Tentacles with less variations in sound effects. The second track "The Last Will and Testament of Emma Peel" (8:08) is very eplorative in nature because it basically an experimental piece using the sound of keyboard and soundscape. "Fie Kesh" (8:23) is a song with an excellent rhythm section combining solid bass lines, percussive and keyboard sounds exploration. The music is enriched with acoustic and electric guitar improvisations that make the song is enjoyable despite repeated rhythm section. "Deafman" (9:01) is another track with keyboard melody and guitar. My CD has one bonus containing "Headphone Dust" (6:18) which basically combines simple acoustic guitar fills combined with soft keyboard work and guitar fills.

It's a very good album especially for those who like space psychedelic music and soundscape exploration. Sonic quality is excellent except bonus track. Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours, GW

IEM is Steven WILSON's (PORCUPINE TREE) solo project who continues his exploration into the arcane spaceyness of our deepest dreams. "Arcadia Son" is the second CD released under the title of I.E.M which takes the space of the debut album and takes us even deeper into the nebula. "Arcadia Son" is an eccentric mix of strange samples, speech, krautrock, jazz, space rock and psychedelia genres with some pretty trippy grooves. For those expecting something in the PORCUPINE TREE or NO-MAN or BASS COMMUNION theatre please note IEM is a very different beast. IEM is Steve WILSON's chance to really explore unique material and release something 100% his own. This is one of those ultimate headphone experience albums with some pretty lush sounds and atmospheres. On track 4, "Cicadian Haze",WILSON combines tribal bongos with flute and Rainforest sounds to create a highly ethereal song which also happens to be one of my personal favorites on the album. (Not unlike Edgar FROESE did on "Epsilon In Malaysian Pale"). Title track "Arcadia Son" reminds me very much of a psych'd out instrumental PORCUPINE TREE number. Epic track titled "Shadow of a Twisted Hand Across My House" clocks in at just over 20 Mins and would make a wonderful Horror movie soundtrack. If Blair Witch had this tune as its soundtrack, the world would still be sitting in the theatres ! 100% Self Indulgent music and 100% awesome !

Solo release from PORCUPINE TREE's leader Steven WILSON who delivers one of the 90's greatest space-psych rock releases yet. IEM is designed to scatter your brain and most certainly after repeated lisitens can cause permanent cerebral damage. IEM does sound like the spacier sections of PORCUPINE TREE's work at times and is actually very symphonic. Tracks range in mood swings from the very slow and electronic suburbs to the crashing spaced out progressive rock numbers. The opening tracks (13 mins) "The Gospel According To The I.E.M." is one of the standout tracks for me which really kicks into some wicked grooves. This is really an instrumental album which has some background noise and spoken words but I think you must be in la la land to really understand them. I.E.M. 's packaging is weirdly nostalgic in that being void of any liner notes, has a handsome packaging. Throughout the fold out booklet are sepia colored photographs of some family snapshots which will keep you entertained for a mere 2 seconds. Instrumentation used by WILSON includes the Mellotron, organ, electric and acoustic guitar, drum, bass guitar, piano, tamboura, tape recorder, sewing machine etc. If you are a fan of PORCUPINE TREE's material then IEM is essential to add into your collection. Get ready to have your brain waves scattered though and don't tell them I sent you..