Customer Reviews

Great Day for the Race

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

 

 

Clocking in at just over an hour, Cities of Foam's debut long player is like an evening at a really excellent Lebanese restaurant. Generous platters of spicy nutritious food, heaped cushions, and a wide-hipped belly dancer who rubs your bald head and makes you dance. Each dish is piled high and, though the basic ingredients are familiar (beats , floaty guitars, languid vocals), judicious use of rare herbs and spices leave you feeling like you've been on a musical journey. Or a musical one. And what was in that hookah?

Some standout tracks - "Last Man Standing". Echoing guitars, space-cocktail keyboards and zero-gravity scatting, and all somehow evocative of a glittering sun hitting the sea. Midway through a heavy-lidded saxophone sidles its way into the mix, while a French starlet stares petulantly at said sunset and shrugs her perfect shoulders. "Barry Can't Do Flat Tops", a dubby hashish-fuelled jaunt through a Kasbah, announces itself with a reverb drenched snare roll, before shifting gear several times. Horns stab and shudder and noodle. Real horns, that is. "Without You": smoky vocals full of yearning and regret. "Under Stars" starts out American dustbowl and veers off into African savannah, courtesy of some exquisite singing from one Chartwell Dutiro (great name!). And finally, "Picking Up Tin Cans": slide guitars, ghostly insect sounds, a mournful cello, Satie-esque piano. Walking around a strange city at 4am, thinking.

Cities of Foam - Sam Menter and Todd Wills - write lovely, sad, joyful music that meanders and wanders about, but is never less than tuneful. Hold a gun to my head and I'd say their album reminds me of Air, The Orb, Röyksopp, Beth Orton and, it must be said, U2. If U2 replaced Bono with Lee Scratch Perry and moved to the French Riviera. And opened up a really excellent Lebanese restaurant.

I downloaded this CD from iTunes on whim and wow! I'd never heard of Cities of Foam before and was just looking for something new. Very impressed - this is a great find if you are a fan of upbeat progressive/instrumental/electronic music.

"Last Man Standing" will probably show up in a commercial or in a movie somewhere. That's not a slam at all, just one of those tunes like "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas that slips through the cracks until one day when it's everywhere. My other favorite is "Out of Reach."

5-stars!

This, their debut album, is a solid piece of chillout musica. Not every song is a knockout, of course, but at worst the songs are repetitively pleasant. At best, they're infectious and gorgeous! The layered instrumentation is nicely varied, with acoustic instruments and understated vocals appearing often, but also spiced up with plenty of electronic warbles and synth buzzing.

They won't win any awards for originality, but I give 5 stars for immense enjoyability.

Its been five years since I stumbled across this album while browsing Amazons MP3 section. To this day I still find my self popping this into my rotation on a consistent basis. If you're a fan of the down tempo / chill flavors of electronic music do yourself a favor and pick this up.

This is one of the most enjoyable and beautiful albums ever. So layered, so well produced. And something that you can return to a year after you think you have absorbed everything it has to offer, and still pick up something new. Must have for any down tempo/ electronic fan.