Blank-Wave Arcade

If your a fan of the the faint they're is no excuse for not having this album!this is among the faints best(if not the best) in my personal opinion:)

You get up and dance! I love the faint and everytime I play them in my car and a person has not heard them they always ask who the band is. The Faint are awesome...this my favorite album. Favorite song is " casual sex" and "the passives"

The Faint: Blank Wave Arcade The Faint’s sophomore album 1999’s Blank Wave Arcade was a stark break from the soft indie sounds of Media their debut. By adding an experienced keyboardist and synthesizer musician in Jacob Thiele, the band was able to move away from the stereotypical sounds of the Omaha indie music scene and into a style of unique electronic music combining synthesizer heavy rhythms and loops with live guitar bass and drums. This creating an almost new era eighties style dance music. Black Wave Arcade is truly like nothing I had ever heard before sounding like a mixture of pop dance music with indie lyrics while still creating the overall colored texture of futuristic electronic music. The electronic keyboard parts are hypnotizing providing great dissonant computer sounds fading in and out connecting each track as well as creating insanely catchy rhythmic breaks. The electronic sounds being produced by Thiele sound totally original and pure almost paying homage to early “Elecronische Musik,” which saw the importance in the creation of totally original electronic sounds and not the sampling of other things. The track that engaged me the most on Blank Wave Arcade was the song “Call Call.” From the very beginning of the song it is a constant build up of sound coming in soft and slowly rising in intensity with electronic pings, pongs and dings creating a riff that builds upon itself throughout the song and by the end it is heavy guitar and bass riffs with beautifully placed electronic samples adding the perfect color to have help the song reach its danceable climax. Another track I enjoyed entitled “The Passives” immediately opens with high frequency tones that sound like they could have been produced by the early electronic instrument the Theremin, because of the wavy unstable sound of the tone. This high Theremin type sound is then joined by a heavy eighties disco style electronic beat which continues through the entire piece giving a really unique backing to the very “indie” heavy lyrics. The way in which The Faint uses electronic music remind me very much of the way it is used in the Goa music of India. While the music is heavily industrial sounding, finding its roots in dance party music and the drug culture; the form is still of traditional Indian music. In my listening to this album I can draw many parallels in that this Faint album uses electronic music to create a dance party environment essential to their live performances. However, the music is still very much existing in the traditional indie music culture and form with live guitars, drums and bass, as well as conscientious lyrics that would still appeal to indie music traditionalists. This album truly was the beginning of The Faint’s creative split away from their traditional mellow sound and into a new phase in their career. They were able to find a new niche using the danceable electronic focused music and experimenting with the new technologies available in music. This is an excellent album for anyone who is interested in electronic music but is perhaps not ready to jump right in. Blank Arcade Wave is an upbeat indie album while strongly utilizing electronic rhythms and synthesizer technology. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

You will never be disappointed with the Faint. This album is no exception and I highly recommend it.

This cd is dancey and unique!

This album is really great. And i say this because it is the techno-ish rock that you can dance to. The fun this album made in my life is emense and the song 'Worked up so sexual' is one of the best songs EVER! Listen to it and you will believe me.

how they managed to make this record, I'm not sure. their first record is practically unlistenable indie-emo sludge, their last record was just "meh...", and 'danse macabre', while really good, doesn't hold up that well these days. but 'blank wave arcade', even though it can be uneven and abrasive, still feels electric 7 years on. songs like "worked up so sexual" pull off the miracle of being as good the 150th time you hear them as they were the first time. it's probably because this record was an experiment and not just a revival, as most of the 1980's-themed records from the last 5 years have been. if you didn't have the privalege of being at the beginning of the 80's "craze", meaning around '99 (coincidentally, when this record came out), and it's taken you at least 6 years to come around, I feel sorry for you, because the whole thing came and went by the time planes hit the twin towers. the rest of it has been nostalgia for 1999 more than anything else. this record is omaha, nebraska in 1999, a year we'll eventually remember more for its own music than its own nostalgic ties to the 80's.

The Faint is nothing short of spectacular and Blank-Wave Arcade is where it all started (I don't really count their previous release - Media). The sound here is more raw than their later works, but that is not at all a bad thing. The songs here are infectious and jumpy (with the exception of "Sealed Human"). "In Concert" just makes you want to smile..."Worked Up So Sexual" is probably the best on the cd - it just has so much energy. Buy that one song and I promise you'll be hooked. "Call Call" is another great one. Blank-Wave Arcade is somewhat the lighter side of The Faint. If you want to hear the darker, deeper, more mature Faint, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth both have some great stuff. Check out everything they've got (EXCEPT MEDIA. stay far far away from that one! It sounds nothing like The Faint I know and love). Don't pass up this band!!!

if you made it this far to actually read this review, congrats to you. if you heard something or read an article or someone told you about this album or the faint then this is it. this is just damn good. if you are even the slightest interested you should just buy this. you will like it. and if not, keep checking it out. it will grow on you. im not going to get all fanboy on you or even music review nerd and use big words. its dark rock with heavy electronics. and again like everyone that has ever heard this album, "worked up so sexual" is the pearl of this album. if you dont like the 30 seconds you preview from this then keep moving.

The faint's first adventure into heavy synthesizer use is not only interesting but funky, hip, danceable, etc. From instant rockers like Call Call to In Concert The Faint never stops impressing. Highly recommended to listeners looking for an alternative!