Customer Reviews

I Sold Gold

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

 

 

I found out about Aqueduct from the excellent folks at the internet-only station woxy.com ("the future of rock'n'roll"). I loved what I heard and purchased the album. As the liner notes make clear "David Perry is Aqueduct... Aqueduct is David Perry". Aqueduct is pretty much a one-man synth-based band (Perry), assisted on some tracks with drums and guitars. If you're not familiar with Aqueduct, imagine a mix of Flaming Lips with Grandaddy, with a splash of Beck and the Faint, although that description does not do justice to the unique sound of Aqueduct.

"I Sold Gold" (11 tracks, 37 min.) starts off with a blasting "The Suggestion Box". The album mixes up harder charging tracks (the pulsing "Growing Up with GNR"--with multiple references to Axl) with more delicate songs, such as the excellent "Heart Design", the highlight of the album in my book. "Laundry Baskets" is another standout. The instrumental "GameOver" is the weakest track, but it is followed by the excellent closer "The Tulsa Trap", a look back to Terry's origins in Oklahoma.

This album will not sell a bezillion, or even million copies. What a shame. This is an excellent album. Aqueduct is coming to Cincinnati soon, and I can't wait to see how the songs from "I Sold Gold" will translate in a live setting.

Aqueduct is the newest thing on the indie scene. The band was "discovered" by Ben Gibbard (front man for Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service) in Tulsa, Oklahoma and soon after packed up and moved to Seattle, where they were signed to Barsuk Records (the biggest indie label around).

Aqueduct is really just one person, David Terry. The people who perform with him alternate, but the current band make-up consists of Andrew Rudd, Chris Barnes and, of course, David Terry. David Terry began recording his music in his bedroom, after coming to the realization his musical career wasn't going anywhere.

In an interview with the Rolling Stone, Terry recalls a time on a bus ride between San Francisco and Los Angeles, "I kept seeing signs for the huge aqueduct that's basically giving life to the desert in Southern California. I was like, 'I am going to make my own music.'"

And that's what he did. This CD is perfect! I first heard the song "Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights" on The OC and couldn't get the chime-like song out of my head. So after a long search I found the CD and haven't stopped listening to it since.

The CD is thirty-some-minutes of excellence. It starts out with "The Suggestion Box" where he blows off some steam about a not-so-loving lover. Then it shoots right into the best song on the album "Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights" which is the song you may have heard from this band at a party and if not, then as a featured artist on the Fox phenomenon The OC. I was expecting it to stop here and to sink into a state of "blah." Fortunately, it just kept going!

Terry manages to pull of an excellent balance between indie and pop music, which is most likely what moved Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse's front man) to invite Aqueduct to open for Modest Mouse.

I wasn't sure what to rate this CD because I haven't owned it that long, but I can't find ANYTHIHNG wrong with it. This CD is catchy, humorous and most of all, entertaining. It's definitely worth the ten dollars to buy this CD and I promise it will remain in your CD player or walkman for many years. Although a debut album, the sound is so mature that it deserves every one of its five stars.

I normally don't listen to this type of weird electronic/piano/etc music, but I like Aqueduct when I need a change.

I heard The Suggestion Box on the radio, and loved the song. The other songs took some getting used to, but they're all good.

The best songs are The Suggestion Box and Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights.

Other standout tracks are: Growing Up With GNR, Heart Design, Tension, and Frantic.

The ferocious retro artwork harks back to the 1980s, but the dreamy pop contained on this latest release from Aqueduct isn't another addition to the current angular new wave sound. While there is an odd 1980s throwback here and there on I Sold Gold, sole Aqueduct member David Terry generally creates a likeable off-kilter sound akin to the quirky music of New Zealand's Goodshirt. Hardcore Days And Softcore Nights has a generally dark undertone and a cool sequence of drum thrashing, while the lyrical configurations of the album take a turn for the better on Growing Up With GNR when Terry sings of lost love at the fragile age of 12 and `Axl Rose on the radio singing Sweet Child O' Mine'. Elsewhere Aqueduct takes on board influences of everyone from Ben Folds to The Flaming Lips, with Heart Design and Five Star Day both being piano driven and further mulling over old flames. Frantic (Roman Polanski Version) ditches the ivories in favour of detuned guitars and synthesisers, while Laundry Baskets contains a hint of Dinosaur Jr or Eels in lines such as `I've been livin' out of laundry baskets far too long' and `Every time I reach a new low the bottom drops out'. There's some good ideas on I Sold Gold, but generally they've either already been picked over by more accomplished acts or they simply need longer to gestate. For now though, this Aqueduct is adequate.

this band kicks ass. i've seen them live twice, and i've been impressed each time. they close each show with a rendition of "Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta." I like heart design, it has a sweet keyboard riff in the middle. This cd is really sweet, and i hope they get out of Seattle and make it big.

I was very excited to get my hands on Aqueduct's 'I Sold Gold' because the songs I had heard I absolutely loved. The first spin of the CD had me very pleased, but after successive plays I found myself quite irratable and skipping over many of the songs.

While I think 'Hardcore Days, Softcore Nights', 'Heart Design' & 'Growing Up With GNR' are fantastic songs, and are my clear favourites on the album, putting them together on an album with other only mediocre tracks makes for a tiresome listen.

As stand alone tracks, the songs all have something, but listening to the entire album in one sitting makes the songs sound repetitive and the lead singer's voice whiny and grating.

I do suggest purchasing the album, but in doing so I also recommend sporadic listens on maybe a mixed playlist in order to fully appreciate the separate, isolated songs, because as an album, it makes for a tedious listen, and that's a shame.

Mixes synth with some of the best use of programmed drums I've heard in a while. Funny and entertaining lyrics. Track #1 which reminds me of The Postal Services' Nintendocore side. Track #2 pokes fun at the common "macho tough guy image," with comical lyrics. Good pop album. Suggested tracks are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7.

I've been quite excited for Aqeduct's follow-up to "Power Ballads" for a while now, but I have to say I'm pretty disappointed when listening to "I Sold Gold." It's not because of the music; the music is all great, solid stuff. This is amazing pop songwriting, with absolutely infectious and deadly melodies. Top notch. Truly.

However...

Of the 11 tracks, 5 have already been released in one form or another.

"Growing Up With GNR" and "Heart Design" both appear in the same recordings on Power Ballads, Aqueduct's first (self-released, I think) LP. They're both amazing songs, but I see no reason for them to be released again. Also, on Power Ballads, "Heart Design" appears as the opening track, while here it is stuck behind "GNR" as the fourth track. To me, the song works far better as an album opener.

Also appearing on Power Ballads and I Sold Gold is "Frantic". There is a difference here, however. On Power Ballads (Harrison Ford Version) it worked as an instrumental, a sort of segue or intermission in between to split up the album. And it worked wonderfully. On I Sold Gold's "(Roman Polanski Version)", vocals have been added, and it sounds as if the music was re-recorded. In my opinion, the vocals and re-recording tarnish the greatness of the original. It just lacks the same pop it once had.

The last two previously released songs, "Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights" and "Tension" both appeared in various forms on Aqueduct's recently released EP Pistol At Dawn. This, I'm fine with. It's normal to release an EP of album material before the release of an album. However, the EP contained the "(Piano Verite)" version of "Tension," which I just think is a much better version of the song than the glitchy, tension-filled (wink) version that appears on the album.

With all of this said, I must say that for somebody who has never listened to any other Aqueduct releases, I Sold Gold is probably a great place to start. The only problem is for people (like me) who are already fans of the band. Listening to all of this material that I've heard before just isn't fun. I guess can understand how Barsuk would want to make sure to release Aqueduct's best stuff, since they're probably a new group to most of indie-America. I just hope that the next LP comes soon, because I'm only half satisfied with this one.

And while I'm writing, I have to point out that Power Ballads (which apparently you can't buy on Amazon, and which I HIGHLY recommend you seek out) was recorded before The Postal Service's "Give Up" was ever released, so all of the critics who mention anything about Aqueduct ripping them off or something like that really don't know what they're talking about.

This album was a serious disappointment for me. I think that Aqueduct has potential but needs to put a little more effort into their songs. The melodies tend to be overly repetitive and not too interesting. The sampled pianos sound flat and the overall sonic quality of the songs is not very dynamic. But the biggest problem is the singing... for god's sake get David Terry (is that his name?) off of vocals! The man cannot sing. His voice is whiny and grating and hard not to cringe at. Secondly, the lyric writing is terrible. Consider the following lines:

Don't ever ask me where I go
Last man who asked me had to go
Because if you start askin'
Then I'll be hostile actin'

I'm not even going to attempt to parse the first two lines, but I will offer a tip to all the budding songwriters out there: if your rhyme scheme forces you to use the term "hostile actin' ", then you might want to scrap that verse altogether. I give the group some credit for the song "The Suggestion Box", which is reasonably enjoyable. But overall, there's not much to like here. I'm sticking with the Postal Service.