Different. Well, different to my normal listening material. The truth is, there might be alot of music out there that sounds like this. However, I suspect there aren't many groups around making this kind of music, compared to during the eighties. Vaguely similar to Echo And The Bunnymen, it sounds...kind of poppy, though generally heavier than Echo & The Bunnymen. And yet, in all honesty I've not heard all that many top-40 songs sounding like this. This is better, thankfully.
That's it - I've decided on the best way to to describe this style - it's music to paint to. Quite slow in general, but not usually actually depressing, the irony is this stuff is probably more "emo" than emo. At any rate, it's probably more musical.
If it came to a show down between these guys and Echo & The Bunnymen, on the strength of what I've heard so far, I'd go for Echo & The Bunnymen - in my opinion, they are the better band. But if you want something similar-to-yet-not-the-same-as Echo & The Bunnymen, this would be a good start. Just don't expect it to be quite as good as them. This is actually a double-sided CD/DVD (CD on one side, DVD on the other). It includes the video for the track Song In Space (pics of the band interspersed with some footage from a rocket launching), the entire album in surround sound and stereo, and portable music files. I haven't checked out the portable music files yet, but having the album available in surround is an interesting extra - unfortunately, I can't make use of it at present. 3/5
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
CD Review: Schmack! by Steriogram
Even if you haven't heard of the band, the chances are you've heard some of one of their songs - Apple used the rather catchy Walkie Talkie Man on their iPod ads not long ago.
I rather liked that track, so (again) I decide to risk the full album (also going on the strength of the user reviews on Amazon). What you get is 12 tracks of suprisingly punky tunes, plus the video for Walkie Talkie Man (more about this later) and a second video of similar length on the making of the Walkie Talkie Man video.
And right now, Amazon seem to have gone crazy, pricing the album at 2.96 (shurely shome mistake?). Anyway, the Walkie Talkie Man video is satisfyingly different - set in a world of yarn. It won't set the world alight, but at least it shows some creativity (and I like it). The "making of" just shows how they did some of the bits, like the yarn drum kit. It's a nice little diversion from the album proper.
The Steriogram sound is "suprisingly" punky because it's not as poppy as the likes of Blink 182 et al, but considering that Apple used one of their tunes in an ad, I'd hesitate to call them "true" punk. Their sound isn't quite that raw, either.
At the standard Amazon album price of ~£9, I could only really recommend it for fans of rock, and I'd give it 3.5/5. But at the insanely low price of £2.96, you'd be a fool not to snap it up, if only to get the video to go with the full track used in the Apple ad.
I rather liked that track, so (again) I decide to risk the full album (also going on the strength of the user reviews on Amazon). What you get is 12 tracks of suprisingly punky tunes, plus the video for Walkie Talkie Man (more about this later) and a second video of similar length on the making of the Walkie Talkie Man video.
And right now, Amazon seem to have gone crazy, pricing the album at 2.96 (shurely shome mistake?). Anyway, the Walkie Talkie Man video is satisfyingly different - set in a world of yarn. It won't set the world alight, but at least it shows some creativity (and I like it). The "making of" just shows how they did some of the bits, like the yarn drum kit. It's a nice little diversion from the album proper.
The Steriogram sound is "suprisingly" punky because it's not as poppy as the likes of Blink 182 et al, but considering that Apple used one of their tunes in an ad, I'd hesitate to call them "true" punk. Their sound isn't quite that raw, either.
At the standard Amazon album price of ~£9, I could only really recommend it for fans of rock, and I'd give it 3.5/5. But at the insanely low price of £2.96, you'd be a fool not to snap it up, if only to get the video to go with the full track used in the Apple ad.
CD Review: Porcupine (remastered) by Echo And The Bunnymen
I got onto these guys thanks to just one track - the majestic Under The Killing Moon, as played on the opening scene of the original cut of Donnie Darko.
That masterpiece of - what to call this style? I suppose "pop-folk" covers it best, but mere pidgeon-holing is inadequate here - doesn't actually make an appearance on this album. But, 17 other tunes do appear here. Well, strictly speaking, there are 12 tracks, plus alternate versions of five of them. That's no excuse not to buy it though, at the measly price of £6.97 at Amazon. For a piece of pop history, that's peanuts (and while you're at it, get the remastered version of Ocean Rain, too).
Somehow, the tracks manage to be quite upbeat, yet still feel somewhat sedate. It's not so much music to dance to - it's more music to listen to. I find the music of Echo And The Bunnymen tends to encourage self reflection, and this can certainly be said of this album. There is a kind of '80s feel to it all, but it doesn't detract from it at all - and it's certainly more individual than alot of stuff that came out of that era.
I don't think it's easy to sum up this album - the best way to do it justice is to listen to it. I took a risk when I got this but, for me, it's paid off. Perhaps you should too.
That masterpiece of - what to call this style? I suppose "pop-folk" covers it best, but mere pidgeon-holing is inadequate here - doesn't actually make an appearance on this album. But, 17 other tunes do appear here. Well, strictly speaking, there are 12 tracks, plus alternate versions of five of them. That's no excuse not to buy it though, at the measly price of £6.97 at Amazon. For a piece of pop history, that's peanuts (and while you're at it, get the remastered version of Ocean Rain, too).
Somehow, the tracks manage to be quite upbeat, yet still feel somewhat sedate. It's not so much music to dance to - it's more music to listen to. I find the music of Echo And The Bunnymen tends to encourage self reflection, and this can certainly be said of this album. There is a kind of '80s feel to it all, but it doesn't detract from it at all - and it's certainly more individual than alot of stuff that came out of that era.
I don't think it's easy to sum up this album - the best way to do it justice is to listen to it. I took a risk when I got this but, for me, it's paid off. Perhaps you should too.
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