Customer Reviews

Facts of Destiny

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

 

 

...I accidentally saw the Centimeters, and wasn't really expecting much. I knew nothing about them. I watched their truly refreshing bizarre live act, so odd and ecentric as too be almost too distant & ramshackle for many audience members, most people were truly thrown off, yet I found it completely compelling. Ran out and bought this CD the VERY next day.

The CD was more .... "cohesive". But still quite good. Almost vaudvillian style music, done through cheesy casio keyboard synth/drum combo, with an old scrappy acoustic guitar, but very poppy catchy songs underlying the madness... and picture Lene Lovich & Iggy Pop dropping some really heady acid, and sitting around doing a combination of maudlin show tunes, freaked-out spoken word & whimsical singer/songwriter stuff about the paranoia of the imminent downfall of western civilization and the subsequent shock and apathetic acceptance that follows....

Truly bizarre stuff. but really well thought out & executed, Hey! THESE kids are really doing something DIFFERENT! So cool, they probably won't be fully appreciated and named dropped by the "music afficiando's" for another 20 years...

nice lil' comic included in the CD too. Nora has done some serious thinking, she is truly an original thinker and exceptional artist...

Five stars is not the kind of rating I casually bestow on analbum but I've been so taken with this new band from Los Angeles since I first heard them a few months ago. The Facts of Destiny is a release that should garner The Centimeters a well deserved cult following but how to categorize it? The best I can come up with is "Tiny Tim meets The Residents" because this music can't be given the mundane description of "alternative". If you like this cd as much as I, you should also look for their first album titled German Verbs.

Wow! This CD is full of honest Alternative Music, every track is an adventure. The underlying theme is almost goth, but there are other tracks that could be mainstream rock hits, if only the major FM outlets could get past their 40-track playlists. The "I'm Not Exercising Enough" and "Kids Have More Fun" have a great sound. Listen to this CD a few times and the other, very unusual, sounds will grow on you. Max Gomberg has a smooth voice, would have been a crooner in the 40s. The contrast with Nora Keyes is great---she can sound like Rosie and the Originals, or she can be very cool, as in "Thousand Eyes". I think anyone who likes stuff out of the mainstream will appreciate this new OC offering.

So last night I was in Austin TX(one of the best cities in the nation for music) at a Wesley Willis show. I had driven up there to catch the second TX show in his current tour after his show in Houston. Anyway, my freinds and I were waiting for Wesley to come out and rock on like a magicist when my girlfriend comes and tells me and one of my best friends that there's this really hilarious band playing on the indoor stage.(This is at Emos.) As soon as we walk in I have already fallen for The Centimeters. Imagine an evil version of the B-52s. Fans of The Faint will probably like them as well. There's some kind of blending here of singer-songwriter gothic b-52ish weirdness coupled with synthesizers and a completely and utterly new and fresh and eccentric take on sound and music. A friend of mine approached the stage and asked the male singer what they were called, as soon as they finished the set I rushed over to their stand to buy the cd. Go to their website and check out the other stuff they have out. And also go get the album "The Lifetime achievement awards." Truly great stuff.