Customer Reviews

Lemonjelly.Ky

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From the sneering label on the cover ("if you already own [the] EPs there is NO REASON for you to buy this album") to the decadent packaging to the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek samples, "Lemonjelly.ky" is a delight from beginning to end. I picked it up on import last fall when it was selection of the month at Colette.

I'm going to eschew the Air and Kruder & Dorfmeister comparisons (really, why do we lump all of the downtempo artists together?), and just call this downtempo with a quirky pop sensiblity, that is so distinctly English.

"In The Bath" is truly soothing, while "Nervous Tension" is a delightful souffle of piano-infused lounge. "The Staunton Lick" takes a delightful pop hook and runs with it. Highlights for me in particular were the saccharine childishness of "His Majesty King Raam," the irresistible breakbeats and piano run in "Page One," and the gentle, touching "Come." Highly recommended.

What were British duo Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen thinking? They call themselves Lemon Jelly, register their website in whatever country owns the ky suffix just for the pun of it, and name their album the same. Then they blow all kinds of cash on glossy, hard-backed packaging and a color booklet, but leave their identity off the CD itself. Oh, and sticker it with a reminder if you own their EPs "there is no reason to buy this product."

Unless of course, you're in the States, where vinyl mini-records and kitch-lounge rarely bubble to the surface. Our treat then, that this dreamy cut & paste weaving of mellow sonic sounds, tape loops, and record snippets (dashed with spoken word instructional guides) now hits home.

Playing like a 1960's Mr. Scruff tribute band, or a folk group spinning cocktail tunes, songs `A Tune for Jack' and `Nervous Tension' remain imminently charming, as do the lullaby loops of `His Majesty King Raam' and starry-eyed acoustic closer `Come.'

Like the middle of a donut, Lemonjelly.ky is all sugar. Wisely, much of their material relies on fanciful, sophisticated melodies rather than courting wit to carry the show. Of course, they could have stripped away the dialogue and revealed a straight-up chill-out album for every critic's fancy. Maybe the duo realize the tangy aftertaste lasts longer with your tongue pressed firmly in cheek. 4.5 stars

Remember Bert Kaempfert? Well, believe it or not, but that's were this fabulous cd starts with... 'What do you do in the bath?' is the first question, followed by a mixture of Nana Mouskouri, hypnotized by a hypnotizer, a delightful dreamy but uptight rhytmn and a piano... Lemon Jelly mixes sounds from sea-elephants, loungy tunes and weird but always happy tunes. This cd makes a rainy day become sunny. Outstanding pieces are... 'In the bath', 'a tune for jack' that really lifts of when a baby joins the mambo. The song after the baby starts as if someone pulled the cord of a musicbox above his cradle. 'His majesty King Raam' is a lullaby we all want to fall asleep with... The staunton Lick is based on samples from a record called 'Teach yourself folk guitar'. Like the other songs, it plays with several samples merged into one great catchy rhytmn. To what you can compare this the best? Hmm, take the swing of Electrotwist, the humor of Mr. Scruff, the soundscapes from Kruder/Dorfmeister and the tempo of the Boys from Brazil. In other words, get this masterpiece if you haven't got any of their EP's yet.

I picked up this cd downtown, and proceeded to (attempt to) drive out of the madness. Rather than ponder the almost pointlessness of having a car in the city (San Francisco) during such times, I placed this cd in the player and (for some reason) started with track 2 ("nervous tension"). How profound it was...

As I became increasingly frustrated with the inability of most drivers to get from "point a" to "point b" without crashing into someone or something, I found myself mumbling the sampled "therapy" exercises to attempt to soothe my nerves! Did it work? Not really, but the sense of humor of this duo did.

This, simply put, is a great cd. It's got a very down-tempo vibe ala Theivery Corporation, K&D, Tosca, Ian Pooley or Jaffa, but without the darkness or melancholy associated with some of the down-tempo counterparts (i.e., Alpha, Craig Armstrong, etc.). Don't think for an instance that I'm suggesting melancholy is a bad thing; nay, it just has to be reserved for its proper setting.

This is a rather great summer-time-ish, poolside-ish, driving with the top down kind of vibe. Very soothing, very smooth, and filled with fantastic off the wall samples. Kind of Nightmares on Wax meets Captain Kangaroo and the cast of the New Zoo Revue.

Get the general idea? If so, I'm sure you will completely dig this one.

Also, great kudos on the packaging. Very slick.

Lemon Jelly is one of the most unique style's of music that I've heard. They combine speech recordings with looped samples from various sources and manage to create beautiful music. "A tune for Jack" has a nice jazz piano lick, a baby saying "oom-baby, ba-bum-ba-bum ooom-baby," and and a laid-back beat. At the beginning a man is in South America capturing a sea elephant and there are these barking noises that sound gross. It's hilarious!! These guys have a great sense of humor and it really shows on this collection of ep's. This album can be very thought-provoking on some tracks such as "page one." It's not like really deep metaphoric poetry like on most pop or rock albums because it is a voice recording probably taken from some book on evolution or something. But, the combination of the vocals and the sampled pianos, bass, guitar, and what not create an atmoshpere or mood that draws you into a different world as you ponder what the man is saying. A few of the tracks don't have any words, but they are also excellent. "Come" is such a dreamy, laid-back, and simple, song - a perfect closer. The harmonica meanderings on that song are so great. They take the song to a new level. It is hard to pick a favorite from such a diverse, yet equally good album, but "the Staunton lick," and "page one" are two of my personal favorites. But, seriously, this album maintains it's excellence from track one all the way to nine! It will take you on a rollercoaster of thoughts, and feelings that will surely leave you gaping and drooling for more sweet lemon jelly!

As a new listener of "electronic" music, I wasn't sure what to expect from this album (which I had purchased based on the reviews here.) Being pleasantly surprised is a bit of an understatement! I was wowed, not only because of this album's accessibility, but because of the way it sucks you in and creates an atmosphere. That is vague, sorry... each song is different but similar enough to the others that a definite mood is created. There are bleeps and blips and drum loops and snippets of people talking, but they're all blended in such a way that isn't annoying and forced. Everything flows - due primarily to the catchy rhythms and clever melodies.

I've listened to this album while cleaning the house and at bedtime because at a lower volume, lemonjelly.ky is very relaxing. But just yesterday I was listening to it while speeding along the highway and the album was much more exciting, which surprised me. I thought it would warrant a nice, relaxing car trip, but instead it just made me want to drive faster! So I guess Lemon Jelly figured out a way to create an album that would suit any mood. That's success in my book!

I was tempted after just one listen of "The Staunton Lick" to see if the rest of the album is any good. It is. That track's hummable, upbeat jangle is not indicative of the rest of the record, but it'll still bring a smile to your face. This London duo take the chill out of chill-out and raise the temperature a few degrees. Woozy melodies bathed in day-glo colours (check out the gorgeous CD artwork!) are blended with some psychedelic sounds with some nice driving bass lines that don't wrack your nerves. There's inventive and novel use of some weird samples, such as a relaxation tape and a guitar tutorial (which works as a very nice segue to "The Staunton Lick"). "His Majesty King Raam" has a melody that would not be out of place on the next Disney film. Not all of the songs are great, but there's enough here to make it worthwhile. While it definitely leans towards the kitschy and corny side, it's all in the name of fun.

I originally discovered Lemon Jelly on [the internet] when they were highlighting "The Staunton Lick". I then went on to download most of the other songs. The calming tones of "Come", "His Majesty King Raam", and "In The Bath" are, well, calming. The the comedy of "A Tune for Jack" and the guitar plucking instructions at the beginning of "The Staunton Lick" add to the album's creativity. A great album to listen to. I will certainly be listening to it for a long time. Plus, the CD cover is fun to look at!

This CD is sure to put a smile on your face - a nice change from the dark oily cloud that hangs over much of today's 'pop' music. The CD has electronic elements, and samples, throughout. But there is subtle and sinewy guitar play, along w/ rhapsodic keyboards and a solid bottom (bass and percussion) on most tracks. This music, on one level, is great fun (e.g., "Tune for Jack" which samples an Australian "Crocodile Hunter" type narrator who's just spotted the 'Patagonian Sea Horse'). On another level, when you crank the volume and the music flows, you begin to appreciate how subtle, and densely layered, this music can be. In fact, the first several times I listened to this CD, it seemed, on successive listens, that I was hearing certain tracks for the first time (again). You hear a certain catchy bass line, keyboard or guitar lick the first time and then, the next time, you find yourself getting turned on by other elements of the song (good head music, dig?). The sonic treatments are truly sublime. I may be wrong, but some of the harmonics seem to be at a pitch just beyond the human auditory range - my dogs, who get really mellow when I play this CD, seem to confirm this theory. It's easy to "like" this CD but if you give it a chance (and more than a few listens), you'll find a treasure trove (or english garden) full of aural delights here.

Year of Release: 2004

Headline: The Beginner's Guide to Understanding Lemon Jelly

Every artist that to those who haven't heard of them is an "acquired taste" needs an introduction of some sort. An album so early is just rushing into them after and not letting anyone get to know your music or what you do, before expecting something righteous and good on the album. I knew nothing about Lemon Jelly's EPs. I first bought Lost Horizons and fell in love with the album and Lemon Jelly, because it sent me on an adventure in different songs that I would never forget. The "greatest hits" album of '64-'95 just gave me Lemon Jelly's rendition of other people's songs, if he had a chance to remix them all into their own work. Both of them were really good. So I wonder what www.lemonjelly.ky has to offer. After listening to this, it sounds not only like a blueprint for an excellent album like Lost Horizons, but it is a good beginner's guide for those who want to shake hands with Lemon Jelly through the headphones.

The album is actually a collection (call them a reissue, if you'd like) of the three EPs they had created. Each one had some sort of a personality. The Bath EP feel good music; Yellow EP was Adventurous, and Midnight EP had a beautifully nocturnal or magical outlook. The weakest of the three has to be the Bath. "In The Bath" starts off with a spacious instrumental (none the bubbly), with the woman being made to say over the beat, "What do you do in the bath?" And no one quite bothers to answer. But for those who can get past the repetition will find the music quite adventurous. It made me want to picture getting in the shower, slipping on some soap and landing in an ocean, crawling through a pipe, only to end up in a kid's swimming Pool, step on the grass, to be flipped on the other side as the sun shines while the stereotypical Egypt walks towards me, and at the end, I come out of the bath floating in a bubble. All of that while listening to "In the Bath", and it made it even more enjoyable. "Nervous Tension" samples a Yoga-like tape to relax your mind, yet the music doesn't follow too much suit as the song sounds like it is trying to create a soundtrack of Portishead in a day spa. "A Tune for Jack" is just a feel good travel through an instrumental for a sea elephant named Jack, and through both that and an interruption by a baby boy trying to say "bumblebee", the adventure seems pretty worth the trip underwater That was what it is like in The Bath. Now to describe the bright Yellow EP.

Kicking off the Yellow EP was "Our Majesty King Raam", which is a bright salute to King Raam, as well as one of those tracks where you know they went over the time limit somewhere. If they haven't, then this album would do well as the track to have a morning theme to it, because from the keyboard reminiscent of Roy Ayers, thissounds like quite an homage for the track. One that didn't even tell us what kind of man King Raam was, but an homage anyway. Next, is "The Staunton Lick", where at the beginning is an awkward walk-through of how to play "The Staunton Lick" from an instruction tape on how to "Teach Yourself Folk Guitar". From that was born a balloon ride or a view over the canyon, with only your guitar to accompany you there. Now, as for the majestic "Homage to Patagonia", the 9 ½ minutes it takes to spread its worldly charm around is used when one half soundtracks a walk through Patagonia (complete with Chinese strings), and an ending as breathtaking as the sun to the common eye. Now that we got the Yellow EP (known to me as the Morning album), the Midnight EP has plenty in store, if you enjoyed your stay at Yellow.

"Kneel Before Your God" sounds like the song that should have graced the What the Bleep Do We Know!? Movie for it's soundtrack through your mind, and a good way to grace your thoughts on spiritual balance. Speaking of spiritual balance, "Page One" is only majestic if you, too, were to pretend that all around you weren't any pizza parlors, or any streets. Just nothing but a field of life, as God once made it, with a sweep of evolution before your eyes. For that concept alone in the song, it is one of the most beautiful pieces on the album. "Come" ends the collection appropriately with a dream-like interpretation of an angel leading you to a happy and forgiving world. The end of the album is the Morning all over again. Well, the Bath in terms of album sequence.

If I ran the album, this would have been Lemon Jelly's concept album as an ode to one day, made from just three EPs representing Lemon Jelly's hellos. The Bath will be in the middle for that to happen. Lost Horizons and `64-`95 were such adventures that we want to know where it will take us. www.lemonjelly.ky, time-wise, ,may sem a little too long, but it is going to take you a while to get into the trip. Lemon Jelly has that charm. So, if you heard their EPs and only, then you are just learning all about the crazy, quirky, and overall rare charm of Lemon Jelly. The crash course is when you buy their further concept-based recordings. That's where the real vacations begin.

The Bath: 6.25/10, Yellow: 7.75/10, Midnight: 8/10

Overall Rating Average: 7.25/10