The Future Is Medium Explained

The Future Is Medium
Type:	Album
Artist:	Compulsion
Cover:	future_is_medium-front.jpg
Released:	27 May 1996
Genre:	Punk rock
Length:	45:50
Label:	One Little Indian
Producer:	Mark Freegard, Garret Lee
Prev Title:	Comforter
Prev Year:	1994

The Future Is Medium is the second studio album by Irish rock band Compulsion, released on 27 May 1996.^[1] It was produced by Mark Freegard and Garret Lee; Freegard handled recording (with engineer Darren Mahomed) and mixing (engineer Steven Cook). The band promoted the album with a UK tour in June and July 1996 with Evil Superstars.^{[2] [3]}

Reception

AllMusic reviewer Jack Rabid wrote that while The Future Is Medium was not as "heavy, proud, and mighty as Comforter," the former was "just as edgy and takes more chances". Marcus Schleutermann of Rock Hard wrote that the punk boom would end that summer but Compulsion would remain due to having "enough identity of their own to be able to survive in the long term". He explained that the tracks had "plenty of nooks and crannies without affecting their accessibility". In a review for NME, Kitty Empire wrote that Freehard helped the band give "birth to 16 songs so bouncy they could punch a hole in your hi-fi casing". She added that the album was "chock-a-block with lethal hooks that dig in and fester, buzzing with the kind of riffs that have you cartwheeling". Paul Brannigan of Louder called the album a "fiercely intelligent and painfully relevant examination of societal ills and the draining of hope and humanity in the name of 'progress'."^[4]

Track listing

Track listing per booklet.

1. "All We Heard Was a Dull Thud" – 4:01
2. "Question Time for the Proles" – 3:56
3. "Juvenile Scene Detective" – 3:37
4. "It's Great" – 2:23
5. "They're Breeding the Grey Things Again" – 2:44
6. "Fast Song" – 1:51
7. "Western Culture Collector" – 3:21
8. "Happy Monster" – 2:57
9. "Belly Laugh" – 2:37
10. "Is This Efficient Living?" – 3:00
11. "Down the Edifice" – 2:51
12. "Happy Ending" – 3:38
13. "Burst" – 1:02
14. "Lost on Abbey Road" – 2:05
15. "Spotlight Into Space" – 1:08
16. "Me" – 4:28

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.^[5] Compulsion

• Josephmary – vocals, trombone
• Garret Lee – guitar, vocals, electronics
• Sid Rainey – bass
• Jan-Willem Alkema – drums

Production and design

• Mark Freegard – producer, recording, mixing
• Garret Lee – producer, design, artwork
• Darren Mahomed – assistant recording engineer
• Steven Cook – assistant mix engineer
• Andrew Sutton – design, artwork
• Mike Diver – group photo

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Future Is Medium - Compulsion Release Info. AllMusic. Rabid, Jack. 3 September 2021.
2. Web site: Tour Dates. https://web.archive.org/web/20010527085021/http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1996/06.05/tour.html. Consumable Online. 5 June 1996. 27 May 2001. 24 September 2022.
3. Web site: Tour Dates. https://web.archive.org/web/20010616200918/http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1996/06.24/c062496.txt. Consumable Online. 24 June 1996. 16 June 2001. 24 September 2022.
4. Web site: 'Sales is not a mark of success': 10 rock bands from the '90s who should have been absolutely massive. Louder. Brannigan, Paul. 2 September 2023. 5 September 2023.
5. The Future Is Medium. Compulsion. 1996. booklet. One Little Indian Records. TPLP79CD.