GF music review club

[REDTALISKER]

Can't complain too much as both yours and Boss's comments do have a point.

 

Thanks for the Yantra from The Peppermint Tree tip. Not one I have heard of before. Had a quick listen to the first track on Youtube but it isn't the best sound quality to be honest. Will pick up a better version I think. Initial thoughts were that it reminded me of the Isness album.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Hope to get my review up tomorrow.

[TheHowieLama]

OK so Androgynous.

 

It is good  -  trance I think (not even sure that is the label) but long analog pads, musique concrete  and Indian/synth percussion screams trance to me. At least as loud as trance can scream. I think I like it. There are the ethnic wind/percussion elements/scales on almost every breakdown - wordless motifs -  which again I like.   

So - how do I selfishly use this? Long drives alone -- early/late night party record? Running through my head at 3 am? Where goes?

 

We will see.

 

Right at the end -- @42 min -- whale calls and the flute into vinyl scratch, sine wave.  Pretty sure, good.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Review : Tales Of Ephidrina by Amorphous Androgynous

 

I once "woke up" in a huge dance tent at Glastonbury, no shirt on but with flashlights strapped to my head, clutching a carrier bag full of Stella, mouthing "Eeza good, eeza good", whilst the Utah Saints were doing whatever it was they did. A most peculiar experience.

 

I've never even heard of Amorphous Androdgynous before and when it comes to dance / trance / hip-hop / trip-hop, my knowledge begins and ends in some dance clubs on the banks of the Vltava and in that tent so many moons ago.

 

[presses play]

 

Liquid Insects - Okay, wasn't expecting the Predator samples, giving way to running water and electro beats. The synth voicing sounds a bit fuzzy and aged, but the tracks sits back and settles into a dark groove. Not a fan of the fuzzy Pan pipes but I'm liking Liquid Insects, enveloped by a jungle of music, a bright start.

 

Swab - Rolls straight in, more percussive with bells, chinks and clinks, a smooth synth slows it all down for a few bars but then a hard, synthy, staccato bass and more upbeat percussion carries us forwards.

 

Mountain Goat - I like the title, I feel that we need more animals represented in dance music. A nice acoustic guitar, I like this, the pace slows, I'm waiting for something to happen, the anticipation is high. I like Mountain Goat, the electric snare underneath the clanking (goats) milk bottles, water bubbles and trickles like a round of applause. Best song yet.

 

In Mind - Starts slowly, I don't like much of the dated synthy reverb sounds on this album so far, but otherwise the mix is really good and is holding my attention. Again it's the percussion which stays, but a throaty loop carries the track. Not much happening though, where's the hook ? Where's the song ? Not saved by the late introduction of the Middle Eastern snake charmer. Not for me this one.

 

Ephidrina - The title track so I'm expecting something better, where's the bass gone to ? I want some big bass licks. Starts with some more Predator stabs, I thought I just heard a Michael Jackson Beat It sample, and there's the drum and bass groove, much better.

When I play guitar I'm a very rhythmic player, I like to hit a groove and dig in, this does the same (wish it would do it a bit more). The bass drum digs in , that's the highlight for me.

Percussion reminds me of Ozomatli. I'm playing air drums, a good sign. Best song yet.

 

Auto Pimp - "Get to the chopper !". Auto Pimp sets the beat up early, more air drums and I really like the delayed guitar strings. Soothing synth snakes in underneath staccato rhythm, I like this track too.

Bobbing my head away, a hard kick drum says hello, the track loops, the rhythm is hard. I like it, surprisingly quite a lot.

 

Fat Cat - I can't make out the vocal at the fade in, (what does he say anybody ?), but I really like that slow synth melody. It gives way to a nice analog funky bass, more percussion going bananas in the background, the luscious synth hook flows back in.

Sometimes I feel like less is more, certainly with hip-hop, Fat Cat gives off that satisfying laid back, chilled vibe. Really nice.

 

Pod Room - Our last song, make it a good one. Mournful synthy samples and flute bring in the bass and drums, a more spartan sound here. Pod Room throbs and grooves, there's more air drums, this is hypnotic and trancey. I like the analog fragments, the vinyl crackle and pop, I'd really like to hear an analog drum kit double up this groove and take this to the next level. Loving the Midle Eastern flavour (again).

The ending seems tacked on and out of place, uneccessary. Another really good track though.

 

Okay then, this is the first time(s) I can honestly remember sitting down to listen to a trance album and I honestly enjoyed Tales of Ephidrina far more than I thought I would. I would definitely listen to more albums of this type in future.

 

I don't usually score albums in my reviews but I would give ToE a solid 7, so thanks RedTalisker, I enjoyed this a lot.

[Guest]

Tales of Ephidrina

 

I haven't heard any of their music at all so went into this oblivious what to expect. As it's recorded in the 1990s it was even harder to know what to expect as the music of that time is definitely very different to now. Saying that, as there are no vocals at all on this album it's hard to date it as often an album's age is given away by the vocals on it.

 

This is a strange album for me as I felt like I was somewhere between a movie set and a weird drug induced single party zone. It's definitely not the type of album that I would normally listen to and it's quite difficult to imagine listening to too much of it again. Simply because I do like to try and enjoy the vocals as well as the music on albums. If one song came on I would be quite happy to listen to it as it's generally well produced and it does have big high points (on of the later songs on the album was really enjoyable with it's catchy synths and beats) but as a whole album I found it quite hard to get through.

 

I had memories of listening to some of Paul Hardcastle's obscure music while listening to this album and in small doses that can be OK to listen to also, just not in a long player.

 

As a set of individual songs I definitely would enjoy each one in isolation, just not all together one after the other.

 

So track by track a quick opinion

 

Liquid Insects

 

Out there sound effects and decent pacing - like a cross between Orbital and John Williams

 

Swab

 

Catchy beats with hints of acieed in the background. Just a little monotonous but I think that's the point of trance, isn't it?

 

Mountain Goat

 

Feels like I am listening to a TV commercial with soft plucks and obscure sound effects.

 

In Mind

 

Quite nice beats on here and it's quite relaxing. This reminds me alot of Paul Hardcastle.

 

Ephidrena

 

Longest track on the album and although it's catchy it never quite takes off for me.

 

Auto Pimp

 

This has a 90s hardcore vibe to it with little synths in the background with a fast beat. Just add vocals and there could be a decent track here.

 

Fat Cat

 

This is the best beats on the album for me. Good use of little synths and I would be interested to hear if they have any vocal work out there.

 

Pod Room

 

Another track that makes me feel like I am entering a trance. At the end I feel like I have actually gone crazy. Maybe I have.

 

Decent in places but due to lack of vocal involvement I just couldn't quite get beyond a 5/10.

 

Edit: Raising this to a 6/10 bearing in mind it was recorded in early 1990s and I have started getting some Orbital on as a result!

 

 

 

 

Edit: After the work Noel did with The Chemical Brothers I do wonder what he was so unhappy about.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Come on lads, any more reviews of RedTalisker's AOW ?

 

Only a few days until Shooter's turn to post his.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Shooter, whenever you're ready pal...

[Guest]

Shooter, whenever you're ready pal...

The site was down for me last night and this morning so it will hopefully be up this evening assuming the site is available.

[Guest]

Selection time. I have pondered a little on this as I either wanted to change direction from Redtalisker's last selection towards rock and roll or stay in line and select a more dance oriented album. So I have followed the direction of Redtalisker and selected an album that I have only recently heard. I have this band's other albums and they are brilliant and I initially wanted to select one of these. However the varied track listing and unusual feature acts (including a previous selectee, a famous alternative band member and an unusual metal band) persuaded me to select Immersion by Pendulum.

 

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/3XtEGVx9uh7J46nBzEc1VS

 

This is an album with a mix of drum 'n' bass and then it moves into melodies and all kinds of styles but it's very well produced and crosses many genres. It also manages to fuse together some genres that otherwise may not be the common.

 

Perhaps this album has already been heard by others but as it's new to me and I really enjoyed it, it's possible a few others might enjoy it too.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Cheers to Shooter for his latest pick. Pendulum are another band I've never heard before. Thanks also to RedTalisker for his Amorphous Androgynous AOW, really enjoyed that one.

 

Anyway, additional linkage :

 

TLW GF Music Club YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmD81dOULR2dlVx03buDBQ/playlists?view_as=subscriber

 

TLW GF Music Club Spotify playlist : https://open.spotify.com/user/carvalho666/playlist/3k64dON6XvCI1W9GFNH8Gr?si=g1tDTXIpSZaLPtELoXu02Q

[Carvalho Diablo]

[Carvalho Diablo]

Thanks also to Shooter for posting the Spotify album link and the Youtube link. Cheers mate.

 

Next to pick his latest AOW is Moof. Due around 2 weeks from now, around Tues 10th July will give us another couple of weeks to listen to Immersion and will allow everybody some catch up time (if required).

 

Hope this is okay everybody ? Let's fucking go ! *horns up*

[ZonkoVille77]

I've heard of Pendulum. They remixed a Prodigy track so I'm expecting Prodigy like music... Nice one.

[ZonkoVille77]

Don't know if it's the weather or something, but I'm really struggling to get my head around that Pendulum album. I'll have a review up over the next couple of days.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Not even had chance to listen to it yet, will try probably on Sunday.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Okay fellas, how would you all feel if we added a couple more people to the club ? Notably mgw100 and Clarence ?

 

If you're okay with it then I'd propose that they'd follow on behind Redtalisker in the rotation ?

 

It's been noticeable that a few of veteran club members have been posting in the thread a bit less in recent weeks, and although that's completely fine, some fresh reviews of our AOWs would definitely be welcome.

 

Would you all be okay with this or should we tell these interlopers to fuck off ?

[REDTALISKER]

I'm fine with it, as you say the number of active people has dwindled to a small regular core, so a couple of extra people would be great.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Do it. Let em in.

[ZonkoVille77]

The more the merrier.

[Guest]

I could do with a positive review of Pendulum so more people that review mean there is a little more chance. More selections to listen to aswell.

[Lee909]

Elton John 

Tumbleweed Connection

Wanted back in to this now im on nights and have the time to listen at work. And only the other day was listening to a load of stuff from the 60s and realised how much i liked that 60/70ss sound with the hammond organ so was happy to see this on the long list of albums i had not reviewed

Not listened to a whole Elton John album before. 

Not sure why to be honest, always had the greatest hits on my playlists but never bothered to get whole albums.

Probably sounds a bit strange but i would say one of the biggest issues with alot of the tracks is here is just too much going on at times. The lyrics at times seem rushed or strung out just to get them to fit the song. Overall its a interesting album and well put together with a central theme. I will definetly listen to it again but its more background music than something that i would just put on to do nothing but sit down with a drink and relax with

 

I don't really review track by track just have a pad open when listening and jotting down anything that comes to mind

 

Ballard of a well-known gun

Really liked this

 

Come down in time

Not so much

 

As a country fan thought this was excellent. 

Could easily have been a song from one of the country stars or folk bands of the era. 

 

Son of your father

Not bad, good story. 

Lyrically could easily have seen it being something from Lynyrd Skynyrd with a different arrangement 

 

my fathers gun

same

 

Where to now St Peter

not great

 

Love song

 

 

Amoreena

First song where you just go thats a Elton John song

You knew it was him on the others but very much influeneced by Southern Rock,Country, Folk. 

 

 

Talking old soldiers

 

 

Burn down the mission

Album seems split in two parts a bit. 

First half was more country/folk etc and now its gone into a Elton John Album

 

Into the old man shoes

 

 

Madman across the water

Second best track on the album for me

Really liked this, Ronson work on the guitar great

[Carvalho Diablo]

Looks like the aye's have it. Welsome back Lee and welcome aboard Matt. Looking forward to your participation.

[Lee909]

Sound Garden 

Superunknown

 

Been listening a little more grunge well more Nirvana mostly) lately.

Was never really a fan for a long time, really starting to appropriate it a bit more these days.

Will be the first full on grunge album(non Nirvana) I have listened to right through also

 

Fist impressions in the opening 5 mins is great musicians, tight and well produced they are not as raw as I was expecting. 

Obviously Cornell's vocals stand out.

 

 

Funny ready the old original album reviews and Rolling Stone having the Lennonesque melody and Harrisonstyle guitar Black Hole Sun as not a very good song and the definition of a B side

 

To be honest pretty disappointed overall

Thought I would be quiet into this these days but for me it really lacks something.

Maybe it just feels a bit too studio/produced. For me it lacks some of the rawness from some of Nirvana better albums

 

 

Stand out tracks

Black Hole Sun

Limo Wreck

 

Would not say I disliked the album, just didn't grab me. Will likely stick it on again at some point to give it another shot.

[Lee909]

 

 

Next to pick his latest AOW is Moof. Due around 2 weeks from now, around Tues 10th July will give us another couple of weeks to listen to Immersion and will allow everybody some catch up time (if required).

 

 

 

Having seen some of the music Moof has put up on the forum and stuff on twitter i very intrigued into what he will pick. 

Should be very good

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Having seen some of the music Moof has put up on the forum and stuff on twitter i very intrigued into what he will pick.

Should be very good

It’s better than his adulation of Prog drummers wearing dungarees.