A lo-fi seventies band moving into the 80’s. They play with a lot of punk, heavy distortion and lots of synthesizer near the end. They are much more light-hearted towards the beginning and also much more lo-fi. The middle tracks are a little too angst-y and take themselves a little too seriously. The last 1/3 mixes this seriousness with synthesizers and moves into the 80’s. It’s a good album that thinks a little too highly of it’s genius sometimes. The better tracks are definitely early but there are some good pure instrumental guitar tracks in here. Recommended: 2, 4, 10, 11, 19

Track 1:Very simple, late 70s band. A little punk. Really good drum line.
*Track 2: Starts off with solo guitar. Good beat. Instrumental. Really good melody. Fast-paced. Stops half-way thru and plays Peter Pan theme. Bass acts as clock. Switches to different melody, slows down. Really inventive way of using instruments. Picks up pace again. Back to original melody. Fun.
Track 3: Nice build. Lots of guitar distortion. Sounds like early rock, a little punk. Much heavier sound than 2 or 3. Vocals are rough but add to style of the song. Switches to vocals that sound a little like “Sgt. Pepper’s” Beatles and style that is much softer and then back to electric.
*Track 4: more experimental, weird. A little “Revolution #9” influence. Gnarly combination of sound effects, back melody and vocals. All really separate but end up fitting together really well. Abrupt ending
Track 5: Starts off w/ public service announcement. Rock. Guitar almost covers vocals. Nice garage band sound. Almost seems like trying to sound unprofessional when in reality, they’re really good. Genius transitions, brings in well-known melodies and distorts them.
Track 6: Good beginning with percussion and bass; a little distorted guitar. Purely rhythm. Really good mixture of sounds.
Track 7: Experimental. Begins with political radio announcement. Nice lyrics about elections. Guitar line is kind of mocking, kind of reminiscent of childhood music. A little creepy. Radio plays in back all the time.
Track 8: Starts off with distorted guitar and bass. A little experimental. Lyrics under guitar. Possible FCC (fuck) but hard to tell. Spoken word. Guitar is more melodic than lyric-y stuff.
Track 9: Weird rock. Lyric almost spoken. Good lyrics. Too short to really pull off well.
*Track 10: More lo-fi than others. Really funny lyrics. Violin and drums mainly. Nice guitar riff.
*Track 11: A little reggae chill beat. Good poetry lyrics. Laid back. About 1:30 slows down and psychs out a bit. Picks back up into a bit more rockish.
Track 12: Distorted Guitar sounds like part of percussion. Good bass line. Note really interesting listen. Similar chords. Can’t really hear lyrics. Very Spartan.
Track 13: Nice opening, cuts between distorted guitar and percussion. Breaks down about 50 sec in. Slow punk. Laid back.
Track 14: Use of guitar as percussion again. Big guitar piece. Simple but good lyrics. Falls apart near the end. Doesn’t really flow with rest of song.
Track 15: Starts out with melodic and smooth guitars. Really well played guitar. Lots of distortion. Nice transitions between melodies.
Track 16: Starts off a little electronic, with distortion. Slow entry into song. Making wait a tiny bit. Synthesiser. Voice is too deep and loud. Doesn’t sound like the rest of their stuff. Lyrics not great.
Track 17: Fast-paced. Very British 70’s. Lyrics all about sex, all angst-y. Cool percussion.
Track 18: Fast-paced again. More emphasis on lyrics. Like the title music is very New Age.
*Track 19: Good upbeat, fast paced opening. Instrumental. Has some very early video-game sounds in it.
Track 20: Begins like it thinks it’s Buckaroo Bonzai, but it’s really just trying to be more 80s. Synth solo at about 2:45.
Track 21: Starts off with strong rhythm, seems to have lost most of lo-fi sound. Much slower paced. A little depressing, if you want that with a good beat.
Julia 05/08/05