Customer Reviews

Friend & Foe

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've dabbled with audio mixing software a bit - everything has blended and congealed from simple drum-machine programs and audio mixing software to something between the two. Programs where you can create beats, mix in found and recorded sounds, compose melodies using sampled audio waves controlled by virtual synthesizers represented by virtual keyboards and virtual buttons on virtual grids to create virtual symphonies. When playing around with wonderous software, and when listening to others's music, I often notice two common problems: 1) everything I hear sounds like it could have been mixed on a 16-bit Super Nintendo, and 2) it is too easy to get into a 'drag and drop' frame of mind, creating slightly disjointed pieces lacking the unity and cohesive nature of an actually practiced and performed song.

This album has gotten a lot of hype in the last two weeks or so. Also, it's tough to find a review of Menomena that doesn't include a description of how the music is created - the band uses mixing software to compose songs, then learns those songs on instruments before recording them. This description seems like a gimmick, and at first I thought it was lazy criticism, as the discussion of the creation of music can easily distract from the music itself.

But that's it; that's really the best way to describe the feel of this album. The drumbeats are actually performed and recorded, not mixed on a beat machine. But they are often influenced by that skippy, counter-intuitive nature of techno beats. Layered melodies and counter-melodies come across as their own units, adding layers but not often playing or reacting off of each other like well-recorded live music. Somewhat random instruments layer over each other, adding more and more sounds that seem more plopped in than cohesive and integral parts of the recordings.

But the result isn't bad at all; in fact, it's very smart and thought-provoking. The melodies work well together and moods shift beautifully through each song and throughout the album as a whole. The piles and piles of sound that come and go actually lend to an overall feel. You know how you feel when listening to a really well produced Beck recording, where everything seem piled on and random waves of noise seem to fall together just right? It's something like that (as opposed to a bad Beck recording, where piles of noise get all jumbled up and are just, well, noisy).

So they brag of creating songs on a computer, then learning them and performing them. But that really isn't the end of the story. The thing that critics seem to miss is that these songs aren't live performances at all. They are clearly the work of hours of studio magic - weeks and months of recording different parts, different beats, different sounds, then mixing them back together. The live performances might be a cohesive interpretation of songs they mixed from found sounds, but this end result is just as remixed as the music was in the compositional phase.

The majority of music produced today is just that - a remix of itself - bits of recorded sounds snipped apart, twisted by processing, and put back together in a final, produced manner. This record makes you aware of this fact, in a most beautiful, moody, though-provoking way.

I will certainly be watching this great band for years to come.

"Friend or Foe", the latest offering from the band Menomena is a glorious trip from start to finish. Not a weak track on here as I'm sure you'll have a different favorite from week to week. "Air Aid", "Rotten Hell", "Evil Bee", "Boyscout'n", "Ghostship", "Running", "Wet & Rusting" & "West" are all favorites. You can easily hear the effect of influences like TV on the Radio, Radiohead, & Home. They really took their time with this album and it shows, as these are highly evolved songs. If you're a fan of straight up verse chorus verse song structures then you may want to look elsewhere as these songs constantly keep you guessing with change of pace, instrumentation and overall structure. You'll hear saxophones, piano, and even whistling along with traditional instruments in the span of the 12 tracks & 48 minutes that end up going down extra smooth.

If you're a fan of cd packaging then this will surely float your boat beyond what you hear on the disc. I won't even attempt to explain it in detail but suffice it to say the sleeve includes die-cuts & intricate artwork. If you're considering just getting the mp3's of this album, you really need to reconsider for the packaging. It's still early, but I'm already sure this album will end up in my top 3 at the end of the year.

Please get this album, as I'm sure if this description interests you, you'll fall in love with this album like I did.
We also need to continue to encourage some of the lesser known great artists out there by purchasing their music and passing the word.

Happy listening!

As a lover of musical innovation and interesting technology this seemed a beautiful integration of software (similar to 'automix' but apparently much more complex & designed by them) and too many ideas. A beauty in the physical sense too... the CD packaging is very intricate and impressive... cut-outs and colors in secret windows that intrigue.
Musically for fans of The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev or perhaps The Earlies. Big clattering (sometimes startling!) drum sound, perfect piano parts, unexpected saxophones, strange group singing (think 'Clap your Hands say Yeah' or 'TV on the Radio') a million ideas, many stylistic / tempo changes within each song (has the song finished?) - but it all flows and makes sense on repeated plays - must admit I wasn't sure after the first listen... but aren't they sometimes eventually the best?

Why? Because the album cover does a far better job at hinting at the innovation, whimsy, experimentation, and sheer quality than I possible could manage. The same factors push this album well past the average indie rock album towards being an early contender for album of the year. For those that need a comparison to other bands, think a far looser TV on the Radio; however, that hardly does justice to what this band has managed to do here.

What really sticks out about the album is that it's jarring tempo changes and dense musical interludes seem as they should present the initial listener with a Fiery Furnaces-esque challenging presentation and yet somehow it evades any sort of learning curve. The songs work instantly but also grow with each listen. On the fifteenth time through a song you will hear some subtle guitar rift on what had already been your favorite song on the album.

If it sounds like I'm gushing about this record it is simply because it is one of those few albums that manages to blow me away listen after listen. I really cannot do this album justice with some pithy lines about "great indie rock" that will not be conveyed more meaningfully by experiencing the songs with your own ears. A magnificent and refreshing triumph in pop rock.

It is difficult to make a record that is as smart and challenging as it is easy to hum along to. It is difficult to make a record that can be empowering one minute then wistful the next. It is possibly even more difficult to make a record that can cover almost every feeling in between empowering and wistful, blending seamlessly from one to the next in the context of richly layered pop songs. Menomena not only pull this off, they make it seem so easy. The album art by Craig Thompson is incredible as well. Every song is good, and everyone will have different stand outs. I personally can't stop listening to Air Aid, Evil Bee, and the haunting closing track West.

I've followed these guys for a few years now and I can say this is their best CD yet. By the way it's worth buying the CD instead of downloading the album because each disc is a little work of art. Friend or Foe is so refreshingly original. Fun Blame Monster (their first CD) is a close second to this one.

Menomena has created, in the simplest of terms, a masterpiece. Each and every song has so much power, it gives me goosebumps when I listen to Friend and Foe. What makes this album so groundbreaking is how they effectively make music unable to be under your norm set of musical genres. Believe me, they go everywhere, but they do it in a constrained sort of way of experimentation, they don't overdo anything so rather than going beyond musical boundaries, they creatively craft new ones. And don't think that because of how "unique" the music is, that it'll be inaccessible, in fact, it's quite the opposite, I really can't imagine someone really hating this music. Impossible! Friend and Foe is the best album in the past 5 years, maybe longer.

Although this is not their first album and it did not quite do for me what Funeral achieved--no shame on that--Menomena, so far, is the new band that has attracted me the most since Arcade Fire took hold of my ears. What is most interesting here is the boldness of the arrangements, the choice of instruments--the saxophone parts, its sound somewhat reminiscent of Dave Jackson or Mel Collins, stand out--envelops the songs of their own aura.

Some songs, particularly, are likely to be considered early gems, if the band continues to grow and trust their own instincts as they have so far. "Air Raid" "Rotten Hell," and "My My," to name a few, show an original vision.

This is not to say that they are without influences. Without going into too much detail, I'd say these guys are a budding branch of the same tree that Mercury Rev and Super Furry Animals, come from, and ultimately Radiohead too. Particularly in "Wet And Rusting" the Revs voicings will be a reference point whereas "My My" may remind you of Love Kraft or even Coyne circa Soft Bulletin.

All in all, a very good album. I don't expect it to come off my "best of the year" list, even with so much music still to come.

For those of us who appreciate the likes of The Flaming Lips, Frank Zappa, and The Residents, a band like Menomena is real find in the multitude of "indie" rock bands that have loads of talent but little in the way of imagination. Friend and Foe shows the promise of a great band that deserves to break through to the masses regardless of the experimental nature of some of the tracks. It clever and exciting and it really sticks with you. The intro of "Wet and Rusting" sounds like the sing-song chanting of little children on a playground. As it progresses, it layers sound upon sound somehow making sense of it all. The complexity of sounds on this album are at the very least, impressive. My favorite track of all, "Ghostship" is deceptively simple and short. There is something magical in its hypnotic ebb and flow. This will no doubt be one of my favorite albums of 2007. I can hardly wait for more from this band. One can only hope they continue to take risks.

These days lots of bands are combining electronic and rock...but very few end up finding the right formula. Menomena has risen to the occasion and become the indie rock heros of 2007 with their latest album "Friend and Foe." Menomena's killer melodies have always been a force to be reckon with but they especially stand out on this album along with booming drums. There is no sign of any weak tracks on the album, they could all hold their own as singles. If you dig the Postal Service and Modest Mouse you'll love this album.
You might as well get this album now so you can brag to your friends later about you found them first.