Fis - The Commons

Fis - The Commons (Exit Records)
This time I am reviewing a mini-lp of electronic music from a man called FIS who is from Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand and from the pictures I've seen looks very nice. I don't think I have heard music from New Zealand before so I am looking forward to doing this review a lot. The record is called The Commons and it is a limited edition of only 250 copies that has six tracks on it, is see-through instead of black like a usual record and sounds very modern to me and very strange to listen to.

New Zealand looking very nice.

          The first song on the record is called Club Track and starts off sounding a bit like the record is a bit warped except it isn't. Then after that warped sound stops somebody says "It's a club track." and it gets louder and there is electronic organ and fast drumming like you would hear in a disco club and noises in the background like running water, it all sounds very nice. In the middle the drums get all quiet and the music goes all soft but then the drums come back and it all gets louder again - I liked this song a lot and I think it would sound very good at a disco to dance to and I think this is why it is called Club Track.
           The next song is called Steeper and is different from the last one because it is not as fast. This is a strange song and sounds to me a bit like a slow train journey maybe. The reason it sounds like a slow train journey is because the drums and strange whistle sound a bit like a slow train going along the tracks - when I'm on a train it goes fast though and I don't think they have slow trains anymore which is a good thing I suppose because you can get places more quicker on a fast train. This is a very nice song and I enjoyed it very much even though it sounds a bit weird.
              The last song on this side of the record is called We Cross Tracks and this one starts off sounding a bit the same as the last one but then changes a bit and it seemed to me like music made on a building site by construction machines and people banging scaffold pipes, I thought this one was very good too and very interesting.
             Wise Man is the first song on the second side and it starts off sounding like a snow blizzard which is a bit strange because I don't suppose there is much snow in New Zealand because it is a hot country. After the blizzard noise there is a strange noise that sounds like somebody sawing something and some drums and a weird voice saying something that I can't make out. This is quite a slow track and not really like anything I have heard before so it is hard to describe but it is very good.
          After the Wise Man song is a song called The Commons which is another slow one but maybe not as slow as the last one. This one has a drum beat and a funny noise in it that reminded me of the electronic machines you get in hospital to test your heart. There are other noises in this which sound like planes taking off and also a noise which reminded me a bit of parrots in the jungle.

A Patupaiarehe on a New
Zealand stamp.

          The next song also reminded me of the jungle because there is very fast drumming in it like you would hear in Africa. This song is called Patupaiarehe which is a very strange word that I've never seen before so I looked it up on the computer and found out that a Patupaiarehe is a spirit thing from New Zealand that lives in the forests and mountains and is sometimes hostile to humans which means it is sometimes against humans like us, probably because they don't like us very much. There are sounds like  growls and moans that at first I thought sounded like a zombie but after learning what Patupaiarehe means I think it might be the noises that one of these spirit things makes. This is a very good, very exciting song that I thought was a excellent way to end the record.
               Overall I would say that I thought this was a very nice to record to listen to because is very strange and not like anything I've heard before. I think other people will like it too when they listen to it. I would give this record 10 out of 10.