Customer Reviews

Fallen Leaf Pages

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

 

 

this band was a real pleasing find. music that sounds like it has been with me all of my life, yet i can't quite compare it to any other band. the 2nd half of the album does remind me a bit of an indie-rock pink floyd. lots of tasteful guitar and piano and winning melodic songs. not a quiet album, but definitely on the laid-back side of things. i highly recommend that you take a chance on this excellent band.

Since discovering this album more than a year ago, the Radar Brothers have become one of my favorite all-time bands. Which, is surprising, as I'm in my forties and not inclined to latch onto new bands, particularly ones with such obvious influences from my youth. In any given song, one may hear hints of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, or even the Moody Blues. However, the Radar Brothers are in no way derivative. They seamlessly synthesize these influences to into something new and poignantly beautiful. And the more I listen, the more convinced and fanatical I become about their genius...

The Radar Brothers have three albums that have become integral soundtracks to my daily life. The Fallen Leaf Pages, The Surrounding Mountains, and The Singing Hatchet. Gradewise, I rank them A+, A++, and A, respectively. Their earlier independent (non-Merge) effort is worth picking up once you've become a devotee, but it doesn't have the consistent quality of the most recent three.

By all accounts, I have overplayed their last three albums to the point where tedium and boredom, not to mention irritation, should have long since set in. Yet for some reason it hasn't. Although not overly complex, their music has a depth and gravity. Their lyrics are ever elusive in their meanings. Their melodic lines (and boy can these guys do melody), never lose their freshness. Every listen leaves me wanting more. Especially when driving, I find that I have the capacity to listen to the same album twice over, something I that ordinarily never do.

In short, I love this band. More accurately, "I am in love with this band". And I would add, I am not the only one. Several people that I work with, not to mention my wife, have become equally fanatical.

At first, this latest Radar Bros cd sounded overproduced. I feared that it was a bait for the Dave Fridmann lovers--from the man who's reduced Flaming Lips to a cloying novelty act and Mercury Rev to a limp mousy simmer. Repeated listens have eased my queasiness, and the consistency (not monotony) of this LA trio over the past decade makes here for a bit richer sounding, more expansive (i.e., keys more than guitars) sonic palate. Background voices layered in a couple of songs, a stunning 10th track (beautifully delivered chorus: "when you show yourself, we will be free": millenarian threat or a promise of salvation?), and the usual rather deadpan (my son hears Pavement in the vocalist's pitch--both in the content and the form) rendering makes for another great Radar Bros cd, that they send us every few years. Worth the wait, great follow-up to "And The Surrounding Mountains."

They have a parched sound. Reminds me of a soundtrack for the Manson clan, pre-Marilyn, post-Death Valley '69. Eschewing cheap sentiment or shock, they painstakingly make songs that delve deep beneath their deceptively dry surfaces. Their records may be hard to find, but all are worth tracking down. Allow yourself to open up to their rather rigorous, sometimes sparse melodies--subtly, they sink in to your subconscious and will never leave. Their mix of measured menace and beauty lingers, their craft continues to be honed. As they sing this time around: "an apple in the weeds."

Without going into the "Behind the Music" and who's who in the Music business, I'd just like to say that this is good album. It's a slow bleed, suspending time, while lowering your heart rate. The songs bleed into each other, applying pressure to the melancholy nerve, that has callused over during the years. Though this album is not as raw or as folky as "And the Surrounding Mountains". It's a good listen, and worth getting....How this did band has gone undetected for so long is beyond me....

Not terribly impressed, my stereo did not expect to be playing The Fallen Leaf Pages quite as often as it did over this past week. Neither did I. Merge describes the Radar Bros. as Pink Floyd meets Crazy Horse meets Beach Boys, and while singer/guitarist Jim Putnam is no Roger Waters, the connection can be heard. The arrangements on this, their fourth LP, are sometimes so subtle and perfect that their complexity can go unnoticed - a lost art in this experimental noise era where more is more and the more the better. Each song has a unique quality about it, and after two or three times through they will brand themselves a spot in your mental playlist.

- Chris Acosta
Synthesis.net