Customer Reviews

Tree Colored See

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

 

 

I have to slightly disagree with the above review. This is an excellent album and it's perfection is not the question. It creates a luscious soundscape that is very unique. It inhabits certain moods that are like land and water yes but really very moving and extraordinary. I'm probably not as familiar as you with their back catalogue but I think this is a fine album. It really moves quick and gets to things at a very good pace. Maybe if it had been more along the lines of perfection you expect, it would be too long. In my opinion they gave it good measure and it's great from start to finish. Sure tracks stick out but all great albums have the same issue.

These guys aren't breaking new ground by wedding two seemingly incompatible genres, but they are succeeding in producing some truly listenable if not compelling music.

I can't remember how I found out about Mystic Chords of Memory [Nobody was unknown to me before this record ;)]. Maybe it was that live broadcast Beachwood Sparks did on KCRW that made me curious about their post break-up stuff. Or maybe it was a resurgence of interest in Eliot Smith that made me go looking for more of this type of music. Who knows. What matters is that I tracked this down the other day with more than pleasant results.

This record is wonderfully ethereal in a way that few records manage to be. And when crossed with the dubbing and beats of Nobody, it takes on exciting dimensions that exceed any dinner napkin plans that otherwise would have suggested failure from the get go.

I'm reminded of Sublime's second (and most creative) record in which ska, acoustic folk, reggae, and punk meet dub. There is a brave blending of styles on this recording that challenges the artist as much as the listener. Ali Gromer Khan's Space Hotel also comes to mind. Tree Colored See defines while simultaneously erasing lines of demarcation. I can't say that it works all the time, but it succeeds more than it fails.

So many influences drift in and out of this record that it's hard to keep track of them all (not that you have to): there's some Beatles here; Elliot Smith there; a touch of country; a dash of Beach Boys; and even the original blenders of country and alternate rock, the Velvet Underground, seem to rear their head from time to time.

Simply put, this is cool music that is unusually soothing and strangely upbeat at the same time.

Thank God for the Beachwood Sparks. I was a big fan of those guys and from their ranks I've gotten two of my favorite albums of the past couple of years. First is the highly underrated All Night Radio, a disc I have simply never grown tired of, like the aural version of a sunny Saturday in my youth. And now this album, a collection of music that is both light and thick, a true headphone creation that unfolds in your head like the flowing petals of a digital flower... Me digs it...

this is perhaps the best record of its genre to come out other than possibly the latest melpo mene record (a great band out of sweden). somehow these two bands integrate their sounds so seamlessly that they have created an entirely new sound you wouldn't have guessed either one of them had something to do with, other than the familiar vocals. this is one of those albums that makes their more popular predecessors probably wish they had made it, and also makes them realize they probably never could.

Electronic Hip Hop marries Psychadelic Folk?

What is ultimately a more intruiging concept on paper than in reality, Tree Colored See disappointed me only in the fact that it's not perfect. Nobody has been my favorite electronic hip hop artist for the last couple years and Mystic Chords of Memory released some great psych-folk two years ago, one of my favorite genre's lately. Hence, I expected this album to be perfect.

Maybe it's because these two genres were never meant to be mixed; maybe it's because Mystic Chords of Memory just weren't the perfect psych-folk pick for Nobody; maybe it's simply because this album doesn't sound radically different from a lot of Nobody's solo songs (see "What Fall Brings" and "You Can Know Her" for examples) - I'm simply not sure, but this album just isn't perfect! Yet it's still a really dreamy sound done extremely well by some of the most talented people out there.

Mystic Chords add vocals and real instruments to the songs while Nobody polishes the music with his loops, beats, and other random electronic tamperings. The first half aims to "reflect the land" while the second half is supposed to "reflect the water." If you're in the right state of mind, you can easily notice the differences in the loops and guitar riffs between these two halfs - and it's pretty cool. Every song on the album is calming and somewhat magical, but not enough songs are like "When the End Meets the Beginning," a song that is both electronically engaging and psychadelically captivating at the same time, so much so that makes you hang on to every note. Other songs come close, just not close enough.

Needless to say, you have to at least check this release out if you're a fan of Nobody or Mystic Chords of Memory. Remember - it's not that it's bad, it's just not perfect.