Transmission (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Transmission
Type = Album
Artist = The Tea Party


Released = June, 1997
Recorded = Alkemical Studios (Montreal), NRG Studios (Los Angeles), Studio Morin Heights (Morin Heights)
Genre = Rock
Length = 49:34
Label = EMI Music Canada
Atlantic Records
Producer = Jeff Martin
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wzabqj7iojsa link]
Last album = "Alhambra"
(1996)
This album = "Transmission"
(1997)
Next album = "Triptych"
(1999)

"Transmission" is the fourth album recorded by Canadian band The Tea Party, released in 1997 (see 1997 in music). The album sees the band expanding on the mix of rock, blues, and world music found in their previous albums by adding electronic instruments and recording techniques to their repertoire.

While still using several exotic instruments and maintaining the "eastern" influence in the recording, many songs also include samples, sequencers, and loops alongside the traditional acoustic instruments. The result is a harder, industrial sound, owing more to Nine Inch Nails than Led Zeppelin. The album is the angriest and most despairing release by the band, with lyrical references to the afterlife ("Psychopomp"), dystopian works of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Yevgeny Zamyatin ("Army Ants") and Giovanni Piranesi's 'Imaginary Prisons' ("Alarum").

"Transmission" continued to build on the momentum generated by "The Edges of Twilight", reaching double platinum status in Canada and receiving a 1998 Juno nomination for "Blockbuster Rock Album of the Year".

Track listing

# "Temptation" – 3:25
# "Army Ants" – 3:33
# "Psychopomp" – 5:17
# "Gyroscope" – 2:56
# "Alarum" – 4:58
# "Release" – 4:05
# "Transmission" – 5:17
# "Babylon" – 2:50
# "Pulse" – 4:09
# "Emerald" – 4:51
# "Aftermath" – 5:43

Hidden tracks

"Transmission" contains two hidden pieces of music:

* An untitled piece consisting solely of electronically processed voices and sounds is located between tracks 6 and 7, lasting approximately 15 seconds
* An instrumental piece entitled "Embryo", lasting approximately 2 minutes, can be found between tracks 8 and 9

Rather than placing the music in separate tracks on the CD, or adding the pieces at the end of the preceding songs, the two hidden instrumentals can only be accessed by listening to the entire album, or skipping to either track 7 or 9 and using the "search" function on the player to rewind the track to -0.15 and -2.00 respectively. This was accomplished by trickery with track indexes. There are two indexes for each track, 0 and 1. Index 0 is the actual start of the track, while Index 1 is where the CD player seeks to when you skip to a track. Track 9 really starts at the beginning of "Embryo" (Index 0). Typically the distance between the two indexes is a couple seconds to create a pause between tracks when listening in sequence.

ingles

*"Temptation"
*"Babylon"
*"Release"
** All profits from the release of this single were donated to the White Ribbon Campaign
*"Psychopomp"
*"Gyroscope"

Recording personnel

*Produced and recorded by: Jeff Martin
**Recording Assistants: Don Hachey and Lee Moro
*Recorded at: Alkemical Studios (Montreal), NRG Studios (Los Angeles), Studio Morin Heights (Morin Heights)
*Mixed by: Jeff Martin
** Tracks 2, 3, and 6 mixed Jeff Martin and Adam Kasper
*Mixed at: NRG Studios (Los Angeles), Studio Morin Heights (Morin Heights)
*Mastered by: Bob Ludwig
*Mastered at: Gateway Mastering (Portland)
**Assistants: Don Hachey, Brian Virtue, and Robert Carranza

Art details

*Cover Painting: "The Earth We Inherit" by Stuart Chatwood
**Concept: Stuart Chatwood and James St. Laurent
*Art Design: Verve Graphic Design Consultants Inc.

External links

* [http://www.lyricscrawler.com/artist/Tea-Party.html Lyrics]