This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If ambient music makes you think of gently bloop-bleeping synths, endlessly repeating samples and paranoid androids, Labradford’s fifth album E Luxo So will make you think again.
Sure, the Virginia post-rockers’ instrumentals have that haunted, lugubrious flow. And yes, they do have their share of tape loops and synthetic soul. But they also have plenty of human soul; E Luxo So also features a string section and dulcimers in addition to twangy guitars, lonely piano and bass. Meanwhile, the epic-length ebbing and flowing tape loops recall Fripp and Eno’s ’70s albums, while the scratchy, hissy bits sound like the grit scraped off a Portishead record. Think of it as trip without the hop.
