2.22.2004
frog eyes
i've just listened to the golden river, a record by the band frog eyes, two times in a row on the way home from work. and i must say it's the most exciting music i've heard in a while...
the album uses as its raw materials the rock clichés i inevitably fall for: charismatic lead singer, drama and bombast in the structures/delivery, hooky turns, passionate howlings... the stuff, in essence, of great unsubtle rock music. think led zeppelin.
but then they put all these ingredients through the blender. the result, let's say, is a weird exquisite corpse of ziggy stardust and captain beefheart records. or something like that. it's aggressively daring, without succumbing to the passive, artsy pleasant-ness of "interesting" music. it makes me want to think and shake at the same time.
does that make any sense???
one of the peculiar glam-rock-reversals that make this album so exciting is the way that the guitars take a backseat in the mix. they occupy a position more akin to the bass in a typical rock song (laying a groundwork, etc.), and, instead, the focus is on vocals and drums. i'm not sure if i can convey this-- it's one of my favorite things about the record-- but somehow the drums and the vocals sound the same. they seem to be in a kind of otherworldy unison with each other, slipping and sliding around bits and pieces of bowie's hunky dory. this is great stuff, folks. check it out.
the album uses as its raw materials the rock clichés i inevitably fall for: charismatic lead singer, drama and bombast in the structures/delivery, hooky turns, passionate howlings... the stuff, in essence, of great unsubtle rock music. think led zeppelin.
but then they put all these ingredients through the blender. the result, let's say, is a weird exquisite corpse of ziggy stardust and captain beefheart records. or something like that. it's aggressively daring, without succumbing to the passive, artsy pleasant-ness of "interesting" music. it makes me want to think and shake at the same time.
does that make any sense???
one of the peculiar glam-rock-reversals that make this album so exciting is the way that the guitars take a backseat in the mix. they occupy a position more akin to the bass in a typical rock song (laying a groundwork, etc.), and, instead, the focus is on vocals and drums. i'm not sure if i can convey this-- it's one of my favorite things about the record-- but somehow the drums and the vocals sound the same. they seem to be in a kind of otherworldy unison with each other, slipping and sliding around bits and pieces of bowie's hunky dory. this is great stuff, folks. check it out.
