Customer Reviews

Chewing on Glass & Other Miracle

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At the end of "Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures" you may not have the slightest clue what you just heard, but you will like it. Rob "Sixtoo" Squires explores new musical territory in this glitch-filled, twitchy electronic/rock/hip-hop/ambient amalgation, which strays down paths that few musicians even think to tread.

It opens with an insistent buzz, like a saw. The buzz gives way to chimes and blips, as a subtle little melody starts to rise from the depths of "Boxcutter Emporium Part 1." You don't get part two until halfway through the album: a solid, complex percussive melody overlaid with plenty of odd sounds, and then part three, a surprisingly gentle, slow song that only crackles occasionally.

The remaining songs are just as entrancing: a mass of faintly gothic tunes, dark rock songs touched with ambience, and some distorted electronica. The feeling is only enhanced by the sounds Sixtoo inserts into it -- stretches of slow electronic waves, rattlesnakes, churning waves of sound, loud buzzes and half-distorted voices. It sounds chaotic, but it somehow whips itself into a glorious stormy web of sound.

If you grabbed DJ Shadow, crammed him into a closet with a few of the ambient Canadian indierocksters, and added a bit of hip-hop grit then you would have something like Sixtoo's sound. Sixtoo admits from the start that this is a departure for him; he wanted live instrumentation for this album, and he got a Rhodes piano for his 29th birthday. (The liner notes tell a little anecdote about every song)

Apparently the Rhodes piano (and a Sea and Cake show) did wonderful things for him. But despite the otherworldly sound of this album, almost no computer effects were used -- instead, Sixtoo relies on the eerie sounds generated by his Rhodes, which most of the original melodies were played on. His playing is all it needs to be -- weird, alien, and dark.

The recorded drumbeats are absolutely stunning, as is the churning bass. Sixtoo gets the sounds he wants by being creative, as evidenced by how he got the "strings" effect in one song. Damo Suzuki of Can makes an appearance in the penultimate song, "Storm Clouds and Silver Linings," sounding like he's drowning in a sea of thick Rhodes noise.

"Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures" sounds lonely, chilly, dark and utterly entrancing, like being trapped in a psychedelic noir movie.

This man is clearly evolving. I saw him live last year in Montreal spinning his favorite rock records. Who does that? Nobody, that's who.

It's dark and provocative. It's spaceage. It's crippling. It'll have you squirming and writhing. Each song escalates until finally you break down by the end and find yourself cutting your wrists and telling your girlfriend to fetch more cocoa puffs from the grocery store.

Unlike "Duration", he drops some "rap" (more like his usual spoken word) over a couple of the tracks. He's fierce. He clearly had a bad childhood. His parents should be blamed, but also praised, because his music is a wonder. Some of the beats make you want to beat the crap of your favorite stuffed animal, but then you realize that the track is really telling you the opposite, and it completely blows your mind. How any track can have that effect is in itself amazing. But I felt that Duration was more moving and less "rock"-ish. Tell your mother you love her.

This cd convinced me that bridging the gap between computerized instruments and the physical kind is something that is not done nearly enough. It's like stuffing DJ Shadow, The Roots, and Godspeed You Black Emperor in a studio and seeing what comes out. And no wonder on the last comparison, as one of the many members of that band is involved. Sixtoo has the same sense of expansive, majestic claustrophobia as the conglom from Canada, like being stuck on a tiny, tiny boat in a vast grey storm. There are elements of drum & bass and hiphop here too, though the voice is distorted, and the beats staticky, so that even that is lonely, distant and grey. A bit spartan and monochromatic, but still a wonderful album.

Sixtoo really threw me off with this one....Chewing On Glass and Other Miracle Cures is certainly a departure from his other releases, but this is not a bad thing. Very percussive and atmospheric, there is quite a range of feeling on this album. His accompanying band really add to the tracks as well, in particular, P-Love, who knows how to tweak unusual instruments (I was amazed to see him pull this off when I saw Sixtoo live).

This is supposed to be Sixtoo's second non-vocal album, but actually "Funny Sticks Reprise" (a rework of the track from Antagonist Survivalkit) and "Horse Drawn Carriage" feature Sixtoo's vocals, albeit filtered through a loudspeaker(this was also entertaining live!).

The low-fi effects are actually endearing, and this is truly an album to be listened to start to finish; no need to rely on the fast forward button. My Fave tracks are "Snake Bite", "Horse Drawn Carriage", "Storm Clouds and Silver Linings" and "Karmic Retribution".

It will be interesting to find out what the follow-up (s) to Chewing On Glass....will sound like.

The first time you listen to this album you will probably be in shock. It is a very creative and beautifully composed album. I have listened to this album over and over and I still love it.

Sick dude, just sick... this album is on a perpetual loop in my stereo. I'm eating cornflakes to this, doing backflips to this, showering to this, taking bong hits to this it's all that and a cookie. I heard this at my local Penny Lane and i flipped. It's freakin awesome that's all i gotta say!

I love to do everything to this cd! My favorite quality of the album is its patience. Sixtoo doesn't overdo it EVER. Don't take it as the songs are boring because they are anything but. They are actually quite original. The album holds its place in roation with other quality instrumental (hip hop?) artists like RJD2, DJ Shadow, Blockhead, etc...

Sixtoo's album "Chewing on Glass & Other Miracle Cures" is a masterpiece of dark rhythms and moody textures.
Less a collection of songs, Chewing on Glass is more like an orchestral composition divided into movements. Each piece flows beautifully into the next, giving the entire album a solid feeling throughout.
Sixtoo builds on his earlier sample-based work, this time adding live instruments such as guitar and a Rhodes piano. In this album, Sixtoo pretty much lets the instrumentals do the talking, only rapping on two tracks.

Standout tracks:
Sidewinders
Karmic Retribution
Boxcutter Emporium pt. 3
Storm Clouds & Silver Linings

Ok, imagine if you take hip-hop, psychedelic music, and electronic meanderings, throw them all together, and you get this album. It's a weird amalgamation of mainly the aforementioned styles. The music is haunting, beautiful, and rather oddly dissident. There are a couple of rather directionless moments, but this is more than made by the band's rather daring experimentation and mashup techniques. The rather disconcerting buzz that begins the album (called an electronic storm), can be rather offputting at first, but once you get adjusted to it, you realise this is just one more facet of the crazy hiphop world that he is taking you into.

The songs are rather gothic in nature. Sixtoo paints his music with ambience and strangely jarring electrionic experiments, along with half-heard voices. The meaning is not really clear, but the in good music the meaning is often open to categories that the listener can subscribe to it. Sixtoo admits this is not his usual sound. While some of his fans may be disappointed, still I think you should give this album a try if you count yourself among his fanbase. As a previous review notes, the liner notes do give a little story about each song, so it gives you a little of his personal history.

Overall, a good purchase for all those hiphop/electronic/pyschedlic fusion junkies at there. Or those looking for some rather addicting instrumental music.

This record is on point!
If you follow underground hip-hop then chances are you already know who Sixtoo is. He's been a member of 1200 Hobos and of course Sebutones with Buck 65. This album conjures some of Sixtoo's exciting friends to name a few Can's Damo Suzuki, Norsola and Thierry from Godspeed You Black Emperor and many more can all be heard programmed and sliced in the true sixtoo style. A big melange to create a psych/rock hip-hopper produced epic album.