Customer Reviews

Guess Sometimes Need Be Reminded How Much You Love

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

 

 

Magnetophone, one of 4AD's latest signings after the departure of label chief Ivo Watts-Russell, specialize in a low-key brand of sonic noodling. Their first full album, I GUESS SOMETIMES I NEED TO BE REMINDED OF HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME, is a unique achievement, but one that certainly wouldn't appeal to everyone.

Eschewing traditional instruments in favour of all manner of old electronic equipment, Magnetophone produce a fuzzy, vocal-less noise pop that seeks to answer the question "What is music?" While many of the songs here are unlistenable, other tracks such as "Oh Darlin'" and "Milk of the Commander" capture the listener's attention well. The album is all the more enjoyable to long-time 4AD fans because some of the tracks, especially "Frankenholmes Drive," evoke memories of the "Early Works" of Warren Defever (His Name is Alive).

I GUESS... is not for everyone. In fact, I suspect a lot of people will despair of 4AD because of it, but I'm glad to see a release this original. The album is all the more enjoyable because of the remarkable design by v23, which uses an envelope instead of a booklet in the CD case and whose back insert is only half-size.

This CD will definitely not appeal to all, but it does something most music doesn't even try to do these days: experiment. Magnetophone are never going to fit in anywhere--neither as "electronica," nor as "avant-garde," but this bizarre exploration of the limits of what music can actually be is worth a listen. There's not much point, either, in comparing it to Aphex Twin, My Bloody Valentine with more keyboards, etc. 4AD took a real chance here, and continues a great tradition of signing superior instrumental acts.

magnetophone live in their own universe.

i guess sometimes i need to be reminded of how much you love me confidently skips, pulsates, fizzes and vibrates along lead by a barage of very self assured beats, sonic walls of sound and melancholy melodies. tracks are anywhere between 6 to 9 minutes long with a few 2-3 minute long snippets thrown in for good measure. oh darlin is a brilliant and lovely opener which then segues into the sonic bliss of frankholmes drive. melodies and drum beats are heavily buried under the sounds but they're there. one of my particularly favorite tracks is why stop when it feels so good? but at 9+ minutes it meanders along for far too long and doesn't quite go anywhere but it's a nice ride and definitely lives up to its title. grateful aren't we?, so much as to hold my hand and the emotional closer love needs you are all definite stand out tracks for me.

the album art is interesting too. the cover is actually a slip case too small for the CD to fit in but when you open it to try to fit the disc in, there's a photograph of a very angry looking woman with a blonde flip gazing at her reflection in a mirror. very clever.

this is very emotional electronic music with an edge. it really touched me. reserve a space of time to sit back, relax, and immerse yourself with a really good pair of headphones. it gets to you, as much as you don't want it to.

One of the best recent 4ad releases! Though it took me a while to appreciate the album, it was worth the patience. Don't expect the usual dance or ambient stuff, this is experimental at its best!! If you are a fan of the label and electronic music, this may be what you have been waiting for--great combination! The packaging of the cd is also quite innovative.

Magnetophone has to be the most underappreciated, underrated group making music today. Next to Grandaddy's "The Software Slump" and Doves' "Lost Souls" this stands as one of the 3 finest albums to come out this year. It genuinely pains me that such musical brilliance goes largely ignored and relegated to "quirky, left-of-center" status. In reality, this is a collection of 13 tracks which display a melodic genius on the part of their creators. It may sound like generic electronica to the casual listener, but listen for a few moments and you will hear brilliant, wonderful melodies played through avant-garde musical sensibilities. If you are musically adventurous and want to hear the best music of the last year, give this album a try.

I can't describe this album in as many words as I have fingers. I can label it (IDM, experimental, what have you) but not truly describe it in such few words. Although the album is IDM, it manages to pack so much feeling and mood into such cold and intimidating sounds juxtapozed with one another. The first track "Oh Darlin" starts off with a heavily repeated...I don't know what. The only way I can describe it is that it sounds like the clanking of drums which have been dismantled and re-assembled with all sorts of metallic additions. As the sound continues to clang, a heavily distorted voice sings over it in a hypnotic state. The track may as well encapsulate the entire album in the sense that it's about how much warmth can still be garnered through the filters of technology. Unlike many other IDM albums, "I Guess..." feels like it actually has a soul. It reminds me of Oval's "Ovalcommers" in this regard especially because of how cathartic some of the songs can be even without lyrics or narrative.

Track titles like "Why Stop When It Feels So Good?" and "Love Needs You" seem oddly fitting descriptions of the songs that follow. Magnetophone manages to pack so much heart and feeling through the use of certain sounds that they soon start to replace harmonies and choral arrangements. Some people will understand what I'm saying after listening to the album while, to others, my words will come off as pretentious. The same descriptions will also be applied to this album.

Clinical yet inviting, Magnetophone is all impressionistic noisebursts, by turns sunny and blood-gray: the apoplectic sputters of the Pixies and the more abstract, synapse-tickling tendencies of Stereolab are rendered in saturated static. But don't be too put off -- there are warm colors underneath all the hospital lighting.

Unfortunately I heard only "oh darlin" off of 4ad's website before running out to buy this album on its release day November 7. I was seduced by the cut's trip hop/My Bloody Valentine sound and couldn't wait to hear more. My feelings now, after having heard the entire album was I had been set up. The album, except for possibly tracks 6,9 and 11 are excruciating doodles of chaos that would have been better left in the studio or compiled into another CD titled "Meaningless Cacophony Due to Lack of Vision". These self directed guys could have greatly benefited from an editor and I can only wonder now if their uncle is Ivo. Ivo, you should have put your foot down!