Modernism: A New Decade
| Modernism: A New Decade | ||||
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| Studio album by The Style Council | ||||
| Released | 26 October 1998 30 October 2001 (re-release) |
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| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Genre | Deep house | |||
| Length | 49:45 | |||
| Label | PolyGram | |||
| Producer | The Style Council | |||
| The Style Council chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
   Review
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Modernism: A New Decade is the fifth and final studio album by the band The Style Council. It represented a departure from the band's core genre of pop, to a new one; deep house, which was then being referred to as "garage" (as in Paradise Garage) music by the UK press. However, upon its completion in 1989, it was rejected by their label Polydor, which led to the band breaking up. Track 6, "That Spiritual Feeling", was re-recorded as a B-Side to Weller's first solo single and 1991 hit "Into Tomorrow". The full album eventually released in 1998 on the box set, The Complete Adventures of The Style Council; a separate release was authorised in 2001.
Matteo Sedazzari of Zani said the album "indicates Weller embracing a new music genre, house music, with it origins stemming from the young Chicago blacks in the early eighties experimenting with bass synthesizers and drum machines with samples." Weller said "I loved all the black house music that was coming out of Chicago and New Jersey, which I just thought was really soulful." Weller is a well-documented fan of soul music, saying "it connects a lot of people from all over the world." Penny Black Music considered it the band's "take on the UK deep house and garage scene."
Mick Brown of The Telegraph called the album "acid house-styled music". However, Weller "wasn't really big" on acid house, saying "I liked the East Coast, New Jersey stuff, more. That band, Blaze, I really liked. For the first time in a long time, I could hear the gospel influence, and it was still pretty much underground."
Weller was pleased with the album. He said that although he "wasn't jumping around the room," which he added "is probably a bad sign," he "liked it" regardless. Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins produced some remixes for the band, but Weller thought "they were fuckin' awful;" Weller commented "I think what we were doing ourselves was better." "Promised Land" is a "wonderfully gospel-tinged" single.
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Wikipedia