''Scorpio Rising'' is the third album by British

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

band

Death in Vegas Death in Vegas are an English electronic music group, for which Richard Fearless serves as frontman. The band was formed in 1994 by Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record ...

. It was released on 16 September 2002 in the United Kingdom via Concrete Records, and on 17 June 2003 in the United States via

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

. The album takes its name from an experimental film by

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...

. ''Scorpio Rising'' features guest vocalists

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...

Hope Sandoval Hope Sandoval (born June 24, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter who is the lead singer of Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. Sandoval has toured and collaborated with other artists, including Massive Attack, for whom she san ...

Nicola Kuperus Nicola Kuperus is an American musician and artist. She is a member of the band ADULT. with her husband Adam Lee Miller (formerly of Le Car). ADULT. owns and manages Ersatz Audio, a record label based out of Detroit, Michigan. In 2003 she sang ...

, and

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

, as well as string arrangements by

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Br ...

. The album was recorded at Death in Vegas' own studio The Contino Rooms in early 2002, with the strings recorded at Trinity Wave Station in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India. The song "Hands Around My Throat" contains samples from the songs "

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

" by

Telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a Public switched telephone network, telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of ...

(written by Max C. Freedman and

Jimmy DeKnight James Edward Myers (October 26, 1919 – May 10, 2001) was an American songwriter, music publisher, actor, director, producer, and raconteur. Myers is best known as the credited co-writer of "Rock Around the Clock" for which he used the pseudony ...

) and "Whitewater" by

Tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...

(written by Dan Bitney, Bundy Kien Brown, John Herndon,

Doug McCombs Douglas McCombs is an American musician who plays bass and guitar with the instrumental rock band Tortoise and leads the instrumental band Brokeback. He is also the longtime bassist for the rock band Eleventh Dream Day. In 1997, he formed Pullma ...

, and

John McEntire John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. McEntire started playing dr ...

). "23 Lies" includes a sample from "Goin' Back" by

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

, written and composed by

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

and

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...

. "Scorpio Rising" takes its main riff from "

Pictures of Matchstick Men "Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by Status Quo, released on 5 January 1968. The Status Quo version The song reached number 7 in the British charts, number 8 in Canada, and number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming th ...

" by

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

, and is co-credited to songwriter

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

. Several songs on the album have appeared in television advertisements and on film soundtracks: * "Girls" is featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film '' Lost in Translation'' and 2004 film '' D.E.B.S.''. * "Hands Around My Throat" is featured on the ''

Animatrix is a 2003 adult animated science-fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The film details through nine animated short films the backstory of ''The Matrix'' film series, including the original war between humanity and machines which ...

'' soundtrack; in a commercial TV-spot by Sony Ericsson for ''

Sony Ericsson K700i The Sony Ericsson K700 was introduced in 2004 as a high-end mobile phone, and as a successor to the T630. It was succeeded by the K750. Features The K700 features Bluetooth, IrDA, GPRS (4+2), Java ME support, and a 640x480 (VGA resolution) dig ...

''; and in the episode "Once Bitten" of '' Big Little Lies''. * "Scorpio Rising" is used in a commercial by the Belgian mobile phone operator Base and at the end of the episode "Touch and Go" of '' ER''. * "Help Yourself" was used in a commercial by the former Czech mobile phone operator Eurotel (now

Telefónica O2 Czech Republic O2 Czech Republic (operating under the O2 brand) is a major integrated operator in the Czech Republic. It is now operating more than six million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the Czech Republic’s leading providers of fully co ...

); in Johan Kramer's 2003 film ''

The Other Final ''The Other Final'' is a 2003 documentary film, directed by of Dutch communications agency KesselsKramer, about a football match between Bhutan and Montserrat, then the two lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA World Rankings. The game was played i ...

''; in the 2003

Girl Skateboards Crailtap is a skateboarding distribution company based in Torrance, California, United States. The distribution company is home to Girl Skateboards, Chocolate Skateboards, Royal Skateboard Trucks, and Fourstar Clothing. Girl Skateboards History ...

video ''

Yeah Right! ''Yeah Right!'' is a 2003 skateboarding video by Girl Skateboards (featuring Chocolate Skateboards), directed by Ty Evans and Spike Jonze. ''Yeah Right!'' is notable for its soundtrack, length, and the extensive use of never-before-seen (in a skat ...

''; and in the 2005 film ''

12 and Holding ''12 and Holding'' is a 2005 American coming of age, coming-of-age drama film directed by Michael Cuesta and starring Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Zoe Weizenbaum, and Jeremy Renner. The film is distributed by IFC Films and was released on May 19, ...

''.

Reception

The album has a score of 68 out of 100 from

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on "generally favorable reviews".

E! Online E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUniversa ...

gave the album an A and stated: "There's no reason to buy any other electronica CD this year." ''

Filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

'' gave it a score of 84% and said that the sounds "are equally rich and emotive, just not as goblin-esque s ''The Contino Sessions''" ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...

'' gave it four stars out of five and said that the album has "Mind-melting Indian-flavored strings... wispy vocal guest turns... and snarling, droning guitar riffs drench rising in a pleasing psychedelic haze." ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' also gave it four stars and called it "exotic, deep, unique". '' URB'' gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "A curious but highly enjoyable mix of experimental beats and good old-fashioned guitar rock." Other reviews are pretty average, mixed or negative: '' Q'' gave the album three stars out of five and stated: "There's no doubting their enthusiasm but it seems Death In Vegas have compiled a list of great cult albums rather than actually making one themselves." ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

'' gave it two stars out of five and called it "A strangely dispassionate exercise in record-collection rock."

Playlouder Playlouder was a digital music and media company. providing news, reviews, and other music-related content. It also claimed to be the world's first music service provider— an Internet service provider bundling access to music content along with ...

gave it one-and-a-half stars out of five and stated that in the album "there are a couple of standout tracks, and the rest falls on its arse."

Track listing

Singles

* "Leather"/"Girls" and "XXX" (double 12" vinyl only, 22 July 2002) * "Hands Around My Throat" (9 September 2002) * "Scorpio Rising" (16 December 2002) * "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" (canceled as a commercial single; was set for release on 7 April 2003)

Personnel

Death in Vegas

* Richard Fearless - production, keyboards, Hammond organ, ukulele (Help Yourself) * Terry Miles - engineering *

Ian Button Ian Button (born 16 April 1962) is an English guitarist best known for his work in the bands Thrashing Doves (1985-1991) and Death In Vegas (1994-2011). Button was one of a core of additional musicians originally brought in by Death In Vegas fo ...

– guitar * Seamus Beaghen – engineering, second guitar * Mat Flint – bass * Simon Hanson – drums

Vocalists

– vocals on "Hands Around My Throat" * Susan Dillane – vocals on "23 Lies" and "Girls" *

– vocals on "Scorpio Rising" *

– vocals on "Killing Smile" and "Help Yourself" *

– vocals on "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" * Dot Allison – vocals on "Diving Horses"

Additional musicians

* Andrew Hackett, Danny Hammond – guitar * Gary "Mani" Mounfield – bass on "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" * Pete Stanley – banjo on "Killing Smile" * James Walbourne – mandolin on "Killing Smile" * Sara Wilson – cello * Ganesh – sitar * Produced and mixed by Death in Vegas. * S. Sai Kumar – sound engineer for string arrangements * A.J. Daniel – assistant sound engineer for string arrangements * Design by FearlessBeaven. Band photo by Grant Fleming.

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

Death in Vegas interview with The Guardian, 30 August 2002
* {{Authority control Death in Vegas albums 2002 albums