''Metropolis Part I'' is an EP by American

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

trio

The M Machine The M Machine is an American electronic music duo from San Francisco, California, United States, formed in 2011 and currently consisting of Ben Swardlick and Eric Luttrell. They have released four EPs, a single and two remix collections on Skril ...

. It was released on April 24, 2012, and is the first part of a two-part

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

describing the story of a dystopian city known as Metropolis, as described by the digital liner notes available on their website. It was released on

Owsla Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was ...

. The songs "A King Alone" and "Faces" feature vocals from the band members, while "Shadow in the Rose Garden" features vocals from Kelly Koval, which themselves are sampled from their earlier song "Promise Me a Rose Garden".

Plot

A young boy, Milo, travels to the futuristic city of Metropolis, hoping to start a new life, but instead finds it to be an industrial dystopia, where workers work in factories to provide power for the King of Metropolis. ("Immigrants") The King has built a machine, called the M Machine, meant to pacify the citizens of the city and bring peace to Metropolis. ("A King Alone") In one factory, Milo works in the same place as Luma, a young woman who works on an assembly line and has resigned herself to her factory work. In a sudden moment of rebellion, Luma tries to convince the workers that there is a way to overthrow the King, which stops the entire assembly line process and causes the administration to kill multiple factory workers, including Milo. ("Faces") Luma takes the opportunity to escape the factory. ("Shadow in the Rose Garden") Meanwhile, three men, the Brothers of Wisdom, infiltrate the caverns of Metropolis in order to obtain control of the M Machine. ("Deep Search") After braving multiple threats, they come face-to-face with a giant spider and are last seen fighting it to get to the Machine. ("Black")

Track listing

Reception

"Metropolis Part I" was met with mostly positive reviews. Hit the Floor praised the record as a "breath of fresh air in the current music landscape where things can get very repetitive", while In Your Speakers stated "The incredible element of this is the concepts manifested in the songs are also concrete metaphors, allowing the abstract sounds to resemble and inspire their physical counterparts, making the world come alive in a way that is rare even for written words".

References

{{Reflist 2012 EPs The M Machine albums Owsla EPs Works based on Metropolis (1927 film)