Customer Reviews

Golden Band

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album by itself can be portrayed as an almost living personification of what relaxing and hypnotic music has to offer. Through such tracks as "Will the Real Danny Radnor Please Stand?" and "New Drifters," the bands almost, dare i say, sweeps you off your feet through un-sophisticated melodies which ultimately lead you into a state of unwinding and simplicity. To most of credulous pop listining Britney Spears fanatics, the songs placed on this album may seem repetative or in a sence tedious, however through such supposed redundancy relaxation is effortless and therefore natural.

This is the album I've always wanted. It's so quiet that sometimes I can't even tell that it's playing (especially on Will The Real Danny Radnor Please Stand?). It's the type of album you can crank up really loud and still not bother anyone. It has a nice confluence with every track more or less running into one another and the repetitive melodies never wear on my patience, along with the droning hum from the keyboards. A Good Friend Is Always Around is brilliant and the 4 part New Drifters is a nice mini-masterpiece. I've never heard an album like this before and I probably won't hear another one, which leaves this album a pure gem. I recommend this to anyone who loves to be hynotized by sound.

Yes....Yes....Yes..... and yet again Yes.....buy it without question if you're into anything that they have graced the indie scene with. Like every other release from the AAS this cd is a must own for too many reasons to list. They are in a class of their own & their melow mood altering sound is just too cool. The only problem is once you hear them you want everything.

Somewhere on the melodic spectrum between Galaxie 500's *On Fire* and pre-*Satan* Mogwai, we'll find a place for this band's brillant, meditative style of gold; more lyrically resigned--and much less repetative--than *From Our Living Room . . . *, *The Golden Band* is a sweet and comforting album, best for drivin' and cryin', long love making sessions or Sunday mornings. There is less harmonium-style drone than Amanset is known for--at least each song is not doused in the airy humms--as the emphasis here seems more percussive and focused on the voice. The album peaks on the fourth track, "A Schoolboy's Charm," where the mantra is a resigned and paradoxically hopeful, "It's not worth it . . . just don't try . . .," sung in pleasant sense of peace. From there, the album slows down and hangs-on, largely as a thinking place, and only picks up with the elevent track, "I Must Soon Quit The Scene." Amanset is a true original with delightfully soft must suitable for thinking and dreaming. Fans of bands as diverse as Spiritualized, Seefeel, Black Heart Procession and the earlier comparisions will enjoy this album.

This album is one of the most amazing pieces of music to come out of Texas in a long time. The music is so intimate and familiar that after listening to it once you will want to play it again and again to catch all the subtle nuances you missed while you were being lulled into a sense of security. The organ provides a warmth that is amazing (it's too bad that Lisa left the band) and the guitar lines are so simple and delicate that you wonder how it could drive a song...but it does. That is the key to AmAnSet's music: simplicity for the sake of getting through to the listener. Buy this album, you won't regret it.

Amanset is alive and well. They are currently working on new material and are set to play South By South West.

I heard early this morning that this band broke up. That saddens me, since these guys seem to be the last good band that can make music that goes somewhere but does so subtly. This is the best album that I've bought since Bedhead's Transaction de Novo and certainly the best album of 1999.

Maybe I'm just not hip enough to get it, but to me this album lacks the subtle power of Low, and the complexity and musicianship of Red House Painters and Idaho records. It's pleasant enough listening, but it's more musical wallpaper than an album that draws you in and really gets you thinking.

Oddly enough, this band is pretty impressive live. If I were you, I'd use the fourteen bucks to catch their next show and buy myself a cocktail.

This album is excellent! It is not as trance-like as the The Fun of Watching Fireworks, but seems to combine the soothing guitar drone from that album with the new melody construction discovered on From Our Living Room to Yours. Overall, exactly what you would expect as a follow up from this fantastic band. Note to band: Please come back to Minneapolis with a van that won't break down.

the first time i listened to it,there was a smile on my face coz i knew they've got me,it has a beautiful low-fi and laid-back mood that linger in the album and keep me feeling so comfortable ,just like killing me softly.