Customer Reviews

Cultivation

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

 

 

I Love this album. Gram Rabbit are the perfect mix of rock and electronica. The beautiful Jessica Rabbit has a mystical voice and a devilish allure. The sound is rich, the vibe is cool. If you are looking for a music to quit your job and start a cult to, this be it. enough said.

Bought this after hearing them on U-tube. A really inventive band from Joshua Tree in the high desert. The only thing more exciting is 26" of snow in the desert. I expect to see and hear much more from this talented group of rabbits.

A synth slinks in after a bit of strange loop, the bass lays the rhythm down, then the drums emphasize it, guitars crash and Jesika's wondrously weird vocals complete first track "Waiting in the Country" which is pretty straight rock except for the Western/Space bridge which could only come from Gram Rabbit. In a better world the out-of-this-world killer riff of "Bloody Bunnies" would have propelled this song into instant hit status. Heavy, humorous and catchy as hell, it's one of my favorite songs from any band. "Angel Song" takes us to Spaghetti Western territory with a majestic keyboard riff that rides on top of the rest of the instruments with vocals handled by Todd this time. Who but Gram Rabbit could have come up with "Charlie's Kids", a sweet and seemingly heartfelt ode to Charlie Manson's `family' and their offspring? It could very well be meant as ironic but one never knows. `Hedonistic insanity', indeed! And if that's not THE Charlie at the end among a pastiche of voices, it's a great fake and I'll eat my hat (or mushrooms). It's another high point on a somewhat (compared to the first album) inconsistent sophomore effort. "Paper Heart" is best described as cinematic pop and would be great music for a paso doble routine for the dance lovers among us. "Slopoke" goes from simple synth/guitar figures on the verses to heavy rock with the full band on the choruses, another extremely catchy tune. Another cinematic moment arrives with the supremely odd "Jesus & I" and there goes my mind again! Gram Rabbit presents us with a kind of manifesto on the rocking, electric pseudo-anthem "Sorry", another high point here. I love the title (and its implications) and surrealism of the song "Crossing Guards With Guns", a space rock piece. With its earnest piano, un-ironic lyrics and generic title, "Follow Your Heart" might seem out of place for a band like GR and on a CD like this but somehow it works if not up to the originality of most of the band's output. Sure, they're rabbits but they're PEOPLE too! The loopy, ambient strangeness of "Hares Don't Have Tea" makes for a perfect ending to "Cultivation" and puts my mind at ease that Jesika & Co. are still `out there' in all meanings of the phrase. Three bunny hops!

...wore bunny suits? Well, that'd be Gram Rabbit. In fact, if you like the B-52's (and who doesn't?) then you're sure to find this group appealing.

When I first heard of them--and the whole bunny cult "joke"--I assumed it'd wear thin pretty quickly, however it was just the opposite. True, the whole bunny suit thing is admittedly silly, but this band really delivers some astonishingly diverse and well-crafted music. Sometimes dancey, sometimes spookey. Spookey Dancey even.

This, their second album, is more spacey and atmospheric than their first. I like them both, but this one took me awhile to get into (except for the immediately catchy "Bloody Bunnies", which is the most B-52's-ish song I've ever heard that was not by the B-52's.)

Great music for that road trip you always wanted to take to Area 51.

Why do rabbits have big ears... To listen to Gram Rabbit.
Fräulein Jessika von Rabbit ist reizvoll.
I'm cheaper than Mr. Krabs and I bought both their albums.

The first album "Music to Start a Cult To"
More infectious than H5N1. 5-STARS If you are only going to join one cult this year, make it this one.

Second album "Cultivation"
Todd Rutherford (band cofounder) described their music as 'desert rock spacetronica'. On the first album the silence of the desert comes crashing through. While there is plenty on spacetronica to go around on the second album, it seems like they ran low on desert. Some tracks like 'waiting in the kountry', 'bloody bunnies' and 'slopoke' are straight out of Joshua Tree. And 'angel song' with its wide-open spacious sound and Jessika's haunting coyotesque backing vocals are full on desert. But some of the other tracks are more than a few scorpions short.

Gram Rabbits second CD is just as original as the first and continues to expand your musical horizons!

Gram Rabbit are one of these strange bands that have popped up in the past few years. I think they played Coachella last year. They are a talented bunch. Many cool songs about life, death, Charles Manson, and bunnies. They have two singers, both male and female. It's a little folk and a little psychedelic. There is an electronic side to them too. Many songs sound like nursery rhymes. There is a lot of cool atmosphere on these records. This is their second release.

After the little slice of awesome that was their first album (Music to Start a Cult To), Gram Rabbit's sophmore effort seems somewhat disappointing. If I were to express what's wrong with this album as succinctly as possible, I'd go with "over-produced." Instead of further refining their unique sound (southwestern burlesque rock?), they've traded it off for too much synth, strings, and sound effects. That's not to say the album's an entire loss; there are still some bright spots. You can check out one of my favorite tracks, "Bloody Bunnies," on their MySpace page. Ultimately, I'd classify this one as "recommended with reservations."