Music Reviews

Music Reviews — 1 Comment
29
Mar 09

Vidulgi OoyoO “Elephant (Love Mix)”

Me and this song have been fighting since last year’s end.  I want to like this song, and I really do, but it gets frustrating.  Vidulgi OoyoO’s “Elephant (Love Mix) is like a box of limited edition cereal, you want to believe it’s amazing and wonderful, but in the end there aren’t enough marshmallows to justify actually paying an extra $1.49 for it.  But every time you’re back at the store and see its special sparkly packaging pawing at your heart you throw it in your basket in hopes of it redeeming itself.  It never does though, and although it is satisfying and overall enjoyable it’s that glimpse of what could have been which ultimately sours the whole experience.

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If you’re looking for the marshmallows without the grains, skip to 2:20; the grove hits at 2:51 and you’ll understand why this song is so wonderful.  Start the song from the beginning and you’ll be cued into what is so frustrating about this track.  It begins alright with an inexplicable helicopter sample as elements are added creating a warm tonality which is fairly enjoyable.  This all goes to hell at about 1:30 when the poorest excuse for a bridge occurs.  It’s frustrating at best and breaks the track at worst.  It also points out one of the main flaws, which is the poor production on the drums and synths.  The synths work out alright, but the drums get a bit abrasive over the course of the entire track.  It’s still not enough to push me away though.  It may not be a club banger, but for that moment you need a reminder things will work out alright, it’s great.

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16
Mar 09

to late tomorrow, ever ever

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I’ve been listening to the new Animal Hospital album, Memory, quite a bit lately.  I originally was hesitant to even get the album.  Most of the reviews were ambiguous at best and their main argument for the album was “OMG, U NEED THIS NOWZ!!!!!!”  But after seeing that review on almost every music blog I read, I caved and got the album.  When I first listened to Memory it didn’t feel like a traditional voyeuristic listening experience.  With most albums, the emotional expression of the music is outside the scope of most of the audience.  It’s only through repeated listening and personally owning onto lyrics and music we internalize the listening experience; where we come to a point of understanding with the artist.

With Memory the emotional connection is immediate, there is no interim where you make concessions to allow yourself to identify with the album.  I don’t know if you actually ever necessarily identify with it as much as you experience it in a linear fashion along side the artist.  Every moment and feeling is fleeting as soon as you are able to identify it.  It leaves you reaching around for something to hold in an attempt to cement things to understand them.  But understanding comes in one of two ways.  Either through quite contemplation in which you analyse a given set of circumstances and reach a conclusion; or after experiencing something, looking back and coming upon the epiphany of the journey.  For somethings you must step out of circumstance and look at the situation in a harsh analytical light to obtain the lesson.  But for issues closer to the heart, many times, you must pull yourself across the rocky soil until you reach the soft creek’s edge.  It’s only after you wash your wounds that you arrive at a moment of growth.

Our memories are marked, more often than not, by the forward motion associated with them.  Bright vivid memories are few and tainted by projected emotions.  But both hold equal weight on our present and future, which begs the question of which is more desirable?  With Memory Animal Hospital allows us to consume a linear reality in whichever way we decide.  The personal discovery of producing and consuming memories is sterilized allowing us to examine the uncontrollable consequences they have on our current progressing state.