Continuous Peasant / Exile in Babyville
| Album: | Exile in Babyville | Collection: | General | |
| Artist: | Continuous Peasant | Added: | Jun 2003 | |
| Label: | Good Forks | |||
A-File Activity
| Add Date: | 2003-12-08 | Pull Date: | 2004-02-09 |
|---|
| Week Ending: | Jan 25 | Jan 11 | Dec 21 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airplays: | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Recent Airplay
| 1. | Jan 23, 2004: | Discarded, Recycled, and New
Where Are You Tomorrow? |
3. | Dec 19, 2003: | Brownian Distraction Motion Limited (sub for Riina)
Where Are You Tomorrow? |
|
| 2. | Jan 06, 2004: | Discarded, Recycled, and New
Hidden track |
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Album Review
Matt Mettler
Reviewed 2004-02-06
Reviewed 2004-02-06
Continuous Peasant – Exile in Babyville.
The songwriter front man Chris Stroffolino is a poet, English professor, and former member of the Silver Jews, which are all cool things. Like Berman, Stroffolino’s vocals often operate in a pitch that wonders away from the music. The pitch will stray flat, and some people don’t like that. They say: “he can’t sing.” If you can get over that, there are some nice songs here. Most are driven by a bouncy pop rhythm. The songs have a definite indi. sound, but are mostly arranged around the piano, which is a style that the Silver Jews perfected on “The Natural Bridge.” But enough about the Silver Jews. Notable here are the lyrics, which are eclectic and absurd, and occupy the forefront of most every song. It sounds like a poet singing, which adds some weight to the album – although at times it feels like the music is slighted. Overall, the album lacks consistency, both in quality and stylistic approach. It has its moments, but the variance in approaches leaves it feeling like these songs are pulled from demos recorded over several years. - Matt M.
* play this song
1. driving rhythm – interesting solo exchanges in the middle.
2. * Slow rocker - synthesizer. Folkish soaring female backing vocals. Wonderfully absurd lyrics. Very much like a Silver Jews song. “I got crashed by Rent-a-Cops,” is a cool line.
3. Mellow, picks up – a funky sway. Blues guitar jumps in at ½ point.
4. Fast - A driving punk base line – punk grounded in piano sounds interesting.
5. Ballad – piano, bass. Bluesy. An staccato electric guitar jumps in at ½ pt., with cool syncopation.
6. Fast and Quirky. Cool song, but unfortunately, FCC, “Goddamn” begins almost every phrase.
7. Slow – moody and pianoy, doesn’t really go anywhere.
8. Up-tempo – electric guitar, sort of a departure from the rest of the album. His articulate vocals are the only thing that don’t make this sound like garage rock.
9. * Down-tempo – nice short solo piano ditty full of poetry.
10. Up-tempo – bouncy piano again! FCC right away!
11. Slow rocker – no piano, instead there are xylophones all over.
12. * Hidden Track! – a country western duet. Pedal steel guitar and everything. This is the best song on the record.
The songwriter front man Chris Stroffolino is a poet, English professor, and former member of the Silver Jews, which are all cool things. Like Berman, Stroffolino’s vocals often operate in a pitch that wonders away from the music. The pitch will stray flat, and some people don’t like that. They say: “he can’t sing.” If you can get over that, there are some nice songs here. Most are driven by a bouncy pop rhythm. The songs have a definite indi. sound, but are mostly arranged around the piano, which is a style that the Silver Jews perfected on “The Natural Bridge.” But enough about the Silver Jews. Notable here are the lyrics, which are eclectic and absurd, and occupy the forefront of most every song. It sounds like a poet singing, which adds some weight to the album – although at times it feels like the music is slighted. Overall, the album lacks consistency, both in quality and stylistic approach. It has its moments, but the variance in approaches leaves it feeling like these songs are pulled from demos recorded over several years. - Matt M.
* play this song
1. driving rhythm – interesting solo exchanges in the middle.
2. * Slow rocker - synthesizer. Folkish soaring female backing vocals. Wonderfully absurd lyrics. Very much like a Silver Jews song. “I got crashed by Rent-a-Cops,” is a cool line.
3. Mellow, picks up – a funky sway. Blues guitar jumps in at ½ point.
4. Fast - A driving punk base line – punk grounded in piano sounds interesting.
5. Ballad – piano, bass. Bluesy. An staccato electric guitar jumps in at ½ pt., with cool syncopation.
6. Fast and Quirky. Cool song, but unfortunately, FCC, “Goddamn” begins almost every phrase.
7. Slow – moody and pianoy, doesn’t really go anywhere.
8. Up-tempo – electric guitar, sort of a departure from the rest of the album. His articulate vocals are the only thing that don’t make this sound like garage rock.
9. * Down-tempo – nice short solo piano ditty full of poetry.
10. Up-tempo – bouncy piano again! FCC right away!
11. Slow rocker – no piano, instead there are xylophones all over.
12. * Hidden Track! – a country western duet. Pedal steel guitar and everything. This is the best song on the record.
Track Listing