This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Mount Florida are a Glasgow techno duo. One of them is an electronics and programming whiz and the other is a DJ. I bet you think you can imagine how they sound. And I bet you’re wrong.
Twitch (love that name) and M.P. Lancaster aren’t some disco duo and Arrived Phoenix is no collection of ecstatic, four-on-the-floor rave anthems. It’s an hour-long opus of dusty rhythms, lazy beats, subatomically skanky bass and repetitively bloopy keyboards that straddles the fence between ambient, dub and low-impact techno — when it isn’t toying with Residents-style pop primitivism and aggressive, flat-out Killing Joke rock, that is. More hallucinogenic than cinematic, more spooky than soothing and — thanks to an extensive sample of a Noam Chomsky lecture on one track — a few IQ points above your typical empty-noggin dance fare.
