Vert / Some Beans & An Octopus
Album: Some Beans & An Octopus   Collection:General
Artist:Vert   Added:Feb 2007
Label:Sonig  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2007-04-01 Pull Date: 2007-06-03
Week Ending: Jun 3 May 27 May 20 May 13 May 6 Apr 29 Apr 22 Apr 15
Airplays: 1 1 1 3 2 1 2 3

Recent Airplay
1. May 31, 2007: Finneman's Market
Paper Wraps Stone
4. May 10, 2007: Fiction Romance
Yrs
2. May 24, 2007: Finneman's Market
Words
5. May 10, 2007: Finneman's Market
Step Under The Bulbshine
3. May 17, 2007: Finneman's Market
Yrs
6. May 07, 2007: Ducks as a metaphor-May heatwave
This One

Album Review
Rob
Reviewed 2007-04-02
Rich, vaudeville-inflected experimental indie pop tunes with free-flowing (nearly spoken-word) British vox a la The Streets. Musical flow is well organized, maintaining diversity with few to none of the harsh transitions or grating timbres that are frequently found in experimental pop. Groove (generally mid to high energy) is set up well on all tracks to complement the carefree lilt of the slightly strained, often clever and quirky narrative lyrics. Consistently fun, catchy, surprising, and well crafted.
See also: The Streets, Cake, The Fiery Furnaces, Jordan O'Jordan, Broadcast
FCC Clean. Play any track; my arbitrary picks: 2,9,11,1,2,7,8

*1. 3:43 - Wonderful midtempo vaudeville intro into plaintive, jazzy pop.
**2. 3:19 - Toe-tapping ragtime ditty.
3. 3:44 - Thick, with distorted vox breaks and Middle-Eastern inflected hook.
4. 4:20 - Darker sounding, fuzzy, lightly grinding tonality with mbira (I think?) to offset the heaviness.
5. 4:15 - Soft, booming/honking groove. Feels like a muted Hollywood toy factory.
6. 5:57 - Lower energy piano ballad. Sparkling, droney build from 4:20 on.
*7. 5:15 - Soft piano opener into into bouncy, hushed pop. Transitions smoothly to fast, free-flowing lyrics, then to ragtime groove. 20-sec outro.
*8. 3:47 - Another, sharper, toy factory groove with close vocals. Great faux-jazzy breaks.
**9. 4:22 - Nice sampled-and-cut-up piano groove. Fadey and spacious electronic track.
10 3:52 - Easy, back porch feel. 8-sec out.
**11. 5:57 - Building drone/ambient intro till 0:55, then vaudeville piano and bass, into the song proper: a snappy, lyric-centered, noir groove. Extended instrumental break (3:20-5:15.) 10-sec out. Very fun!

Track Listing
1. Gretchen Askew   6. October
2. Velocity   7. Yrs
3. This One   8. Paper Wraps Stone
4. It Is So   9. Step Under The Bulbshine
5. The Familiar Girl   10. ...Said The Signal To The Noise
  11. Words