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Editorial Reviews
2009 release, the second full length album from the Alt-Rock sextet. The White Rabbits refer to their music as "Honky Tonk Calypso," and their cheerful blend of Calypso, Reggae and Ska rhythms, plus secondhand music hall influences and big pop hooks, strongly recalls vintage Madness circa "Our House" and the moodier, more experimental side of the Specials and Fun Boy Three, via Ted Leo & the Pharmacists.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By C. Mack
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I heard White Rabbits' first LP, "Fort Nightly", a few months after it came out, it was a mostly enjoyable album for me. A good indie rock album with a few tracks that begged to be placed on mixtapes due to some excellent, memorable vocals. It had some forgettable moments, but was never bad. I was expecting new producer Britt Daniel (better known as the Spoon front man) to flesh out these memorable vocal moments even more for "It's Frightening", but he actually had the opposite effect.
"It's Frightening" starts out with a bang on "Percussion Gun." The dual-drum attack drives the song from the start and never lets up and includes the classic line: "Where do you get off, and how can I get there too?" "Rudie Fails" sounds like a less-aggressive Ted Leo rocker, including his penchant for repetition as "I don't care at all" is sung a dozen or so times to end the song, these songs make up a very nice one-two punch to open the album.
From there, the album flows along at a steady pace, always letting the music steer, never allowing the vocals to explode into an instantly memorable chorus like they did multiple times on "Fort Nightly." "The Salesman" is my personal favorite in the middle stretch of the album, followed closely by "Right Where They Left". "The Lady Vanishes" and "Leave it at the Door" provide a mellow double-outro to the album, both are enjoyable tracks but the two together do feel like an extended outro, perhaps a slightly different track ordering would have increased their individual impact.
There are two major things that have come to my attention after repeated listens to "It's Frightening." The first is that they really seem intent on not allowing the vocals, which were the true highlights of their last album, to overshadow the music. The second is that the manage to pull off this instrument-driven sound much better than I thought they would have. If you liked "Fort Nightly", there is no guarantee that you will like "It's Frightening." A better measuring stick for this one is any of The Walkmen's albums or "Girls Can Tell"-era Spoon. The band is completely focused on letting the music guide the way, whether or not that is a good decision is up for interpretation, the thing that I believe can't be denied is that they pull off this new sound remarkably well.
"It's Frightening" starts out with a bang on "Percussion Gun." The dual-drum attack drives the song from the start and never lets up and includes the classic line: "Where do you get off, and how can I get there too?" "Rudie Fails" sounds like a less-aggressive Ted Leo rocker, including his penchant for repetition as "I don't care at all" is sung a dozen or so times to end the song, these songs make up a very nice one-two punch to open the album.
From there, the album flows along at a steady pace, always letting the music steer, never allowing the vocals to explode into an instantly memorable chorus like they did multiple times on "Fort Nightly." "The Salesman" is my personal favorite in the middle stretch of the album, followed closely by "Right Where They Left". "The Lady Vanishes" and "Leave it at the Door" provide a mellow double-outro to the album, both are enjoyable tracks but the two together do feel like an extended outro, perhaps a slightly different track ordering would have increased their individual impact.
There are two major things that have come to my attention after repeated listens to "It's Frightening." The first is that they really seem intent on not allowing the vocals, which were the true highlights of their last album, to overshadow the music. The second is that the manage to pull off this instrument-driven sound much better than I thought they would have. If you liked "Fort Nightly", there is no guarantee that you will like "It's Frightening." A better measuring stick for this one is any of The Walkmen's albums or "Girls Can Tell"-era Spoon. The band is completely focused on letting the music guide the way, whether or not that is a good decision is up for interpretation, the thing that I believe can't be denied is that they pull off this new sound remarkably well.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By B. Niedt
Format:MP3 Music
Damn that "Percussion Gun"! It's easily the catchiest song I've heard so far this year, and after the band's killer performance on Letterman the day before the album's release, this song has cemented itself into my brain. What a great way to open an album - with a pounding duet of tribal drumming. The whole set is propelled by standout percussion and piano, tempered with fine emotive vocals and harmony, and smart songwriting. Britt Daniel produced this, and his fingerprints are all over it, which is fine with this Spoon fan. There are definitely some similarities between the two bands; you might also be reminded a bit of Modest Mouse. Their excellent debut, "Fort Nightly", got some critical acclaim but otherwise little attention - maybe this new album will earn a better and more deserving fate. (I wonder if the title is a swipe at the similarly-named Scottish band Frightened Rabbit.) Besides the aforementioned lead track, listen to "Rudie Falls", "They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong", and "The Lady Vanishes". This is an early candidate for one of the best albums of the year.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Horsegal JPJ
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I heard Percussion Gun on pandora and thought, well this song definitely says Buy Me. All it took was the Amazon samples and Britt Daniel's name and I had to buy the whole album. Excellent decision, I love every song. White Rabbits make such spirited, interesting music that I'm wondering: Why is the perfectly decent but rather blah Vampire Weekend so damn hot while the much superior White Rabbits are not?? Their other album, Fort Nightly, is just as good as this one.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another good one
This album starts eith a frenzied of some of the best percussion ever put in a song, hence the name of the song "percussion gun"
Published 5 months ago by mattyg
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Second Album
White Rabbits often gets compared to Spoon, and for good reason. Their second album, IT'S FRIGHTENING was produced by Spoon frontman Britt Daniel. Read more
Published 11 months ago by T. A. Daniel
4.0 out of 5 stars
Radiohead?
Loved this record, highly recommend it. Anyone else get a Radiohead vibe? Not the OK Computer version but maybe the Bends? Anyway, check it out.
Published on March 1, 2010 by M. STUART
4.0 out of 5 stars
:D
love the Cd!!! it's a "must buy"! :p . Won't be deceived with that choice.
Published on January 30, 2010 by M. Souranis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Album-- Excellent Sound Quality
This is a great album if you already like a couple of White Rabbits songs. In my opinion, the sound quality from Amazon MP3s are better than iTunes. Read more
Published on January 30, 2010 by C. Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars
New favorite album
Scrolling through dozens of $5 cd options options on Amazon I listened to clips of these tracks and took a chance. Read more
Published on January 1, 2010 by Eric Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the 2009 Top 10
I thought they could have been more original with the band's name. Loved the "percussion gun" song, so I bought the album. Read more
Published on October 24, 2009 by Alejandro
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't stop listening!
This album has great passion and emotion in it. I was first drawn in by the first song and its great beat. The rest of the album proved to be wonderful as well. Read more
Published on October 13, 2009 by Wendy Kane
2.0 out of 5 stars
The 'hit' strikes again...
Apparently the way the music industry has to work these days is to have 2 or 3 'hits' on any given album, fill the rest with whatever, then release, repeat, rake in the cash. Read more
Published on October 2, 2009 by bimwa
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased with my purchase!
I really like this artist, so far I have listened to the whole album one time and I am pleased with my purchase. Read more
Published on August 30, 2009 by GKP
