Boom Bip - Blue Eyed In The Red Room - Electronica/Dance
This is definitely a more melodic release compared to my memory of Boom Bip’s previous releases… I feel more reference to groups like Sea and Cake, Tortoise, Explosions in the Sky and early Pell Mell than in the previous more minimal albums. Check Tracks #s 2, 5, 7, 8 & 9 – Reviewed by Cikee
1 - Cimple - 5:05: Rich guitar chords and heavy piano reverb create a really full space with a cascade of glitch rippling beneath cyclical harpsichord line… really full and natural sounding.
2 - The Move - 4:40: really like the minimal quality of this track after coming from Cimple which puts a lot of pressure on your ears. The focus really is on the drums and a bass synth line with percussive samples (obviously from a synth/sampling module) they fill everything out. The melodic lines are short and clichéd but they work like a John Hughes movie.
3 - Do's And Don'ts With Gruff Rhys - 6:01 This track is a little self indulgent to me… I think I’m over my melancholy droning stage in life… the drums that come in about 2 min into the song are tight though and the way that it builds from there works. The glitch element is also left out of this song and replaced with more natural percussive sounds.
4 - Girl Toy - 5:26: The intro is straight out of the soundtrack to Orlando and then it just builds into a tweeky twangy lushness… the synth winds are a little overpowering with the delayed guitar high on the register… this is more about cycles and layers than really creating melodic flow...Not my favorite track.
5 - Dumb Day - 5:14: This song would make a really great clock. It’s kind of like a cacophony of them anyway between the guitar and the harpsichord and then the organ… very nostalgic while at the same time creating the effect of dischordination. I really like the muted breakdown in the middle.
6 - Eyelashings - 6:23: The bassline is so Indie Rock in the early nineties… and the synth winds are so Sea and Cake… the guitar is really Liz Phair in the Hal Hartley days and the piano is very Tortoise…. And underneath is all is the circle tempo from Philip Glass.
7 - Soft And Open - 2:18: The panning and sound placement on this track is illustrative of a really great use of space throughout the album. This is glitch in natural form with an Asian almost would percussion sound. The eerie high pitched crooning does just enough to take away the peaceful qualities and make it tense.
8 - One Eye Round The Warm Corner - 5:10: This is another track that sounds like its straight off a Hal Hartley soundtrack… where the melodies are light and overly soft but the elements are put together in a way that it just can’t be sweet and sugary but sounds a little bipolar… the acoustic guitar and shimmering synth winds creating a vision of light dancing on dark.
9 - Aplomb - 3:41: Another edgy indie track that starts off with a tight hat break opening up on the end and then launches into a crush of drums instead of a crush of guitars, winds, and keys… the electric guitar keeps the gritty underbelly and bass drives in a steady downward spiral… I really like this track.
10 - The Matter - 3:49: They end on the soft easy note with a soft female voice talking about soft things…This is too soft for me. Too folk music to fit the album and too meant to be thoughtful to work with the abstract impressionism of the instrumentals before it.