on 2008-05-03 digitalbath Said:

arty wank

priceless
Not Rated

Review:

on 2008-05-03 Macavennie Said:

I remember seeing a review of this album when it first came out which went along the lines of....

"...some might call this "arty wank" but as a fan of both art AND wanking i think its the finest album ive heard in quite some time"

I went out and bought it purely because he used the word wank in his review. swearing IS cool! Fact. So, having bought it for such a fickle reason I certainly didnt expect it to remain in or around my CD player for the next 14 years!


From the opening violin car-alarm riff dEUS fuck with your head (in a good way) and pull you all over the shop. "Suds & Soda" grabs you by the short and curlies and defies you to not join in it's aggression before the sublime "W.C.S" sits you down, strokes your head and lets you know your mate dEUS will sort it all out for you. Then "Jigsaw You" soothes you with a delicacy that Yo La Tengo would be proud of. Just as you start believing it's all gonna be fine "Morticia's Chair" tells you "...I'm such a fool" and bangs your head until you're convinced that all the world's ills are your doing.

This cycle continues in "Via".... soft beautiful melodies build into a crashing crescendo "... i'm gonna hit it against a rock... i'm gonna hit it against a rock... i'm gonna hit it"

"Right as Rain" feels like the bottom point of a dark depression. the inversely positive point of realisation that things cant actually get any worse, start looking up cos you cant go further down. Then "Mute" softly crawls back up to a beautifully angry fight back.

Which all leads into the astounding "Lets Get Lost". i love this track. The mass noise, confusion, violins, guitars, distortion. My heads usually spinning by this point so the clarity of the intro "Hotel Lounge (be the death of me)" feels like the fog is lifting again.

The next track has always confused me. Although "Shake Your Hip" is only 42 seconds long this mini T-Rex romp seems to jar with the tracks around it. Very out of place

"Great American Nude" drops back into YLT domain with fragile percussion and jingling angular violins rebounding all over the place before "Secret Hell" asks "... don't i only scare myself?" in a way that Richmond Fontaine would be proud of.

The final track "Divebomb Jingle" tells you ".... yes, that's the price you pay" over a swampy track that Beck and Mugison might have concocted.

My review might suck ass but trust me... this album certainly does not. a classic on my music shelf



Rating: 9/10