Customer Reviews

Camoufleur

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So, I found this used (in Chicago, of all places) in the summer of '01, and I thought I'd check it out, given the O'Rourke pedigree.

I listened to the first few tracks, found it pleasant enough, and filed it away. Then, a couple of years later, I pulled it out, put in the 5-disc shuffle, and went off to another part of the house to do some odds and ends. At some point, the final 2 minutes of "Bauchredner" came wafting through the house, and I thought I'd died and gone to musical heaven. Over a motorik-style Stereolabbish beat, there was a drum fill, then horns, then beautiful pedal-steel guitar...and it made me sit down and it made me smile. I then realized I'd never gotten to the end of the CD before. Oh, silly me. It was like finding a $100 bill while doing the laundry. It was like a sudden vista appearing during a monotonous drive. Unexpected, beautiful, and all the more beautiful being so unexpected. I'm not suggesting that the final two minutes of "Bauchredner" are worth buying the CD for, but that experience prompted me to reassess the entire disc, and it's since gone into regular and heavy rotation.

Let this be a lesson. If O'Rourke has anything to do with a project, listen to the entire damn thing.

I have read many reviews that call this an accesible albumorpoppy, or was it "Gastr del Sol at their pop best." Whilethat description may be sensible to one familar with the band, it's a little like talking about Can at their pop best. Yes, this album is more accesible than past efforts, but that doesn't mean a lot here. The exception is with the album's bouyant opener, "The Seasons Reverse." This masterpiece of a song should have been a huge hit (ok now I'm getting carried away, maybe in just parallel universe). After the Seasons Reverse the album is a much more subdued, jazzy, minimalist affair but always solid.

Ok, i must admit, i first heard Gastr in an mp3 file. I was blown away. I went right out that day and bought "Upgrade & Afterlife". Although i thought it was very good, it is definately not for everyone. Then a few days later i came here and ordered "Camofluer". And now i must say, "This IS for everyone". This is one of the most amazing recorded albums i've ever heard. This, along with "Bark Psychosis" - HEX, could be the only CD's i'd ever own and i'd still be musically satisfied. It's funny. All these record companies are freaking out over mp3's, but think, if it wasn't for mp3's, i never would have heard Gastr, let alone purchased two of their albums in one week. Do yourself a favor, buy this album.

...because I think Gastr del Sol are incredibly underappreciated and could very easily reach a much larger audience. "Camofleur" proves it, and let it be said, this is a POP album (unlike their previous efforts)--for more experimental, challenging listening, "Upgrade & Afterlife" is austere, bracing, and very rewarding.

Camofleur, then, is eclectic pop music. O'Rourke and Grubbs seem to have included every influence they ever spent a day with, from Eno ("A Puff of Dew") and Parks ("Each Dream is An Example," "The Seasons Reverse") to Fahey ("Bauchredner"), Kraftwerk, Conrad, and Vietnamese folk songs ("Black Horse"). There are acoustic guitars with deft fingerwork, pedal steel guitars, pianos on top of needly-noisy synthesizer sounds, tape-looped found sounds, backup singers (!), and even drums, occasionally.

The amazing part is that O'Rourke has managed to arrange and mix it all so that it is remarkably cohesive. The songs blend right into one another, organically--a common adjective applied to his production sound--but they are interestingly arranged and diverse enough that they are clearly distinct from one another. This a marked reversal from their other albums, where "post-rock" is apropos (spacious, percussionless extended sequences punctured by bursts of sheer noise). Another departure is that this album is always pleasant, almost dreamy, easy to listen to. Where past albums tempered the occasional pleasantness with dissonance, "Camofleur" replaces the dissonance with denser arrangements and more varied musicianship.

If anything this album is a harbinger of the pop sensibilty of Grubbs' and O'Rourke's subsequent solo efforts. To my ear (and brain), what they did together is far richer and more interesting than almost anything they've done alone (possibly excepting The Magic Sound of Fenno'berg). They are smart, exceptionally skilled musicians with talents that seemed to complement each other in ways few bands together for twice as long ever reached. "Each Dream Is an Example" and "Blues Subtitled No Sense of Wonder" are stand-out tracks that showcase the layered, sometimes lush arrangements, as well as Grubbs' more interesting lyrics. "Sensuous detail meet sensuous detail" sums it all up: that's exactly what "Camofleur" is about, sensuous detail.

this album features a lot more than u might see at first - from the loop loop loop never stop upbeat anthem The Seasons Reverse, slow and tender Blues..., weird ad fun two-part Black Horse, something that sounds like a pop song (Each Dream), another "hey! melody!" miniature Mouth Cannyon, tape experiment A Puff of Dew, and the brilliant one-sound closer "Bauchredner" ("ventriloquist"). yeah i know, the review is not very helpful. the other guys did a much better job. listen to all of us, buy the damn thing.

Simply one of the most adventurous yet satisfying blends of artistic classicism and electronic soundscapes. Each note is perfectly hit (not a single extra) and essential to each piece, casting a spell of comfort and togetherness that was only hinted at on Gastr's previous album, Upgrade and Afterlife. Echoes of Van Dyke Parks' monumental Song Cycle are very apparent and stand alongside Markus Popp's tourtured-to-the-point-of-being calmed computer malfunctions, as if someone poured soda all over his hard drive and then turned the machine's rotted wires and boards into billowy clouds hidden within melody. O'Rourke's Faheyisms are delightful as usual, and Grubbs' piano figures sway with elegance. Essential to devouts of VDP's Song Cycle, and to everyone who ever wondered if melody and electronics could ever REALLY work as one(and perfectly, at that).

Camoufleur is one of the greatest pop record of all times, and maybe the first to be really projected in the musical outlook of the next decade. In this record you can find Canterbury rock, Brasilian popular music, John Fahey, all mixed up together with a strong dose of originality and talent, making Camoufleur appear almost like a music lesson for apprentice songwriters. The way the songs are compoesd is genial: "Most Blues...", for example, starts with an angelical singing overlapped to a minimalist piano and explodes into a perfect pop song. But my favourite song is "Each dream is an example": the begin is similar to "Most Blues", but in this case, instead of pop arrangements, the song is filled up with electronic noises, that suddenly stop, leaving place to a ballad for voice and piano. The song ends with female choirs lying over the voice of Grubbs (I think it's him) which repeats the same words, "as corpse...". Now the closer referent is Ennio Morricone: in fact, even if not similar in genre with his music, this song shows Gastr Del Sol's ability to recreate background images and atmospheres, just as the italian composer only was able. This is surely the most original and accessible record of two of the greatest musicians of this century, and I hope of the next too.

after seeing this album get praised to the sky i have to say that i'm disappointed. assorted bits of music, different instruments and styles get sprinkled around -- it's true some of the bits are beautiful but i don't feel they add up to much. often they're buried in the diversity or they're played to monotony. anyway that's how it seems me after a half-dozen listens. as for comparisons, i'd say the singing sounds alot like doug martsch from built to spill, especially on the opener-- except the lyrics are self-conscously arty and (to me) silly. some snippets sound like outtakes from stereolab's "cobra" (horn section, sixties swanky pop), plus there are bits of asian and american folk, country music, steel drum and accordian, fred frith-style guitar workouts......you get the idea. the trouble is that i like everythng that this album reminds me of much more than this album itself. bottom line: i don't think 'camoufleur' merits the hype and i suggest you have a listen before buying unless you have a good idea what you're getting.

the fine folks of gastr del sol, mr. david grubbs and mr. jim o'rourke, parted ways with cameofleur, their most accessable album.

i guess the deal is that they let markuss popp take their album on table of the elements, mangle it up, and created bleep and bloop landscapes. our boys then perceeded in playing pop music over it. and they are good! it amazes me.

seasons revers comes in like an am radio song w/ steel drums and crazyness. then it moves on and slows down, until the countrish mouth canyon, in which our home boy, mr. jim o'rourke does his crazy crooning technique.

beautiful.

the album changes and twists and turns and... it's just nice.

john mcentire and edith frost appear on a few songs as well.

This album comes highly recommended to any jaded novelty-seeker. Conbining broad-based experimentalism with an ever-intriguing pop sensibility, it could be the flagship for a whole new way of looking at music. The melodies are opaque and delinear, but their tendency to wander off into a haze only adds to their spellbinding beauty. This stuff draws on elements from everywhere imaginable: brisk be-bop, cabaret, lazy funk, easy listening brass, abstract jazz, and bluegrass all pass through the mix. The only thing missing is traditional pop-song verse-chorus-verse structure, and this album is ample evidence that structure is of little use to truly creative songwriters and musicians. Their past albums were random noise collages more often than not, but it sounds like Gastr Del Sol has finally unleashed their musical masterpiece. Try "Season's Reverse", "Blues Subtitled No Sense of Wonder" or "Mouth Canyon" and become a believer.