sushirobo - the light-fingered feeling of ..
sometimes i receive stuff that beggars belief. with absolutely no knowledge of the sounds i am about to experience i place the cd in the tray and hope that the next hour or so will be bearable, and possibly even enjoyable. on the whole it is, a few times it isn't, but then, every now and then i get something like this. upon my first spin of this album i was intrigued, initially the twisted melodies, sci-fi sound effects, discordant dual layered vocals were too obtuse and unwelcoming. but something kept pulling me back in. perhaps it was the sharp directness, the classic wire era weirdness, the early devo guitar lines, the hugely entertaining lyrics or maybe it was the simple fact that the album is exactly the same length as my drive to work, but, whatever the reason within a few days this album blew everything else off my play list and became on constant rotation, causing me all sorts of problems. opening track 'moonfruit' doesn't set the scene well as the sci-fi guitar histrionics are very off putting and a lack of a real melody makes this awkward to to the casual listener. luckily though, 'last call' which follows is by far the best 4 and a half minutes of post punk funk excellence that those fashionistas franz fredinand could merely dream of and with a killer guitar infused hookline.
job done, i'm won over.
the sci-fi nature of the sounds being generated by the guitars (robert fripp wired up to the matrix) is carried over into the lyrics with 'the new laboratory assistant' declaring passions for those that wear white lab coats to a quality clean guitar line and a messed up synth bassline - freaky and completely addictive. the rest of the album passes on with various tracks recalling past glories of other boundary pushing post punk heroes that are being dropped into every other review eg wire, gang of four, pil etc. where things become interesting are on 'watch you' this is a mellow laid back affair with a dub style groove and a overload of synth atmospherics .. so for anyone who misses thomas dolby's 'flat earth' period then look no further. this track originally was a low point but now i get completely wrapped up in the emotional moodswing of it, and the overall gorgeousness of the sounds. the fact that the four tracks that follow this are by far the best four track sequence in recorded history really helps .. 'talk show', 'heart lungs etc', 'manual of style', 'zuckerman's favourite joke', these 4 tracks are done with within a mere 12 minutes, but by the end of them i am grinning like a manic cheshire cat. featuring stories of low grade daytime tv participants, a tv presenters favourite joke and all sorts of other weird stuff ! the devo comparison comes to the fore with 'heart lungs etc' the tight singular guitar lines and mono-note bass line is straight out of the early devolution handbook. more, please.
there are lots of different depths to this album - give it a few hours of your life and you'll understand why this album is definitely going to be in my top 10 for a long time. unfortunately though, i have to listen to some other stuff. i have to - i have no choice .. but damn this album is great.