Customer Reviews

Midrange

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

 

 

dykehouse's first album was IDM/techno, but he has taken a new direction. there are plenty of comparisons-- i must admit he's not entirely original -- but using just a guitar, a computer, and his voice he makes some amazingly produced music. my bloody valentine is an obvious influence, but also depeche mode's guitar-based stuff (like "i feel you") and 90s rock bands like foo fighters. it has a lo-fi sound especially in the programmed drums, but it is so dense and lush that it often sounds like a full band. this is definitely the most radio-friendly release from ghostly international.

This album is an upbeat, full-bodied pop masterpiece. Graduates of the class of '86 will hear The Cure, Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, maybe even a little Alan Parsons Project and undoubtedly others. Younger ears may pick up on the potpurri of more contemporary influences, including Happy Mondays, Catherine Wheel, The Faint, and other bands I haven't given a proper listen. His voice is fantastic and the music is irresistable across the board. This CD is the first in the wallet for my upcoming 9 hour drive to New York and back, and it will rest assured make its proper impact on the rotation.

Michael Dykehouse is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, but I randomly discovered this release while I was filing through some Ghostly International records in Ann Harbor. Though he has been in the techno/electro music scene for some years, this bold, brilliant creation may just push him onto the surface of American radio pop music, or at least catapult him onto the regular big city club circuit.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Dykehouse made this album with a guitar, a computer, and a microphone.

If you like spacey, feedback-fueled rock sounds....Midrange is it. I had come across this album some time ago and found/purchased it at a book/music store a few years later. I love this label...If it's on the Ghostly imprint, it's going to be incredible. I had lent the disc to someone and due to circumstance was never able to get it back. Was happy to find it here on Amazon and be able to have the album/artwork in my hands again.

i figured since this was a Ghostly Records release it would be good and while the music and melodies are fine, the lyrics cannot be unheard. Dykehouse makes Sum41 sound like W.B. Yeats.

You're so soft / I'm so hard / Making out in your backyard

Ouch! No adult would ever cop to writing this; I'd have been embarrassed to write that at 16. A lot of people compare it to shoegazing, but it's little more than fuzzy, unashamed power-pop (and isn't that why we have post-green album weezer?). I deliberately deleted this album after downloading it. I cannot allow it to take up valuable harddrive space.

Dykehouse is about a decade and a half too late: the great wave of shoegazing pop has long since passed by. But that doesn't stop him from reliving the glory days: the hazy guitars, the layered vocals, the wobbly, dreamy quality that had many people moping around. "Drown Inside of Me" sets the reverb on high and lets the music swirl around, while "Chain Smoking" revels in its somewhat silly lyrics -- as not to say that the shoegazers didn't have silly lyrics either. And despite the velvet qualities of tracks like "Lost Holiday" or the gentleness of "Western Lands," I can't help but feel that this is music whose time has come and gone, and no amount of beauty will bring it back.

This album is one of my top favorite '30 discs' to listen to. I heard the Chainsmoking song on Pandora a couple years ago and quickly located the disc. This guy nailed the shoegaze sound, and what is all the more impressive is that he recorded it just prior to this huge indie music bang that is currently so popular. To me that's impressive for the sake of originality, if nothing else. The tunes have very catchy melodies, the mastering is balanced impeccabley well, and amazing of all of this is the rumor that this guy recorded this disc on a laptop in his bedroom with a plugged-in guitar. It is sad that something of this caliber and originality goes unhailed by the mainstream public so that we don't get a sophomore release in the same vein. Dykehouse: It's a masterpiece. GOOD JOB

This is a very impressive production piece for being recorded in a bedroom. It still manages to capture a slice of the My Bloody Valentine wall of guitar, the trebly drums, the muzzy-fuzzy vocals that occasionally float over the music and are occasionally drowned within the music. Its merits go far to outrun its debits -- most obviously the cliche-ridden lyrics.

(Go back and listen to My Bloody Valentine lyrics, though, and you'll see that Dykehouse is not so far off the mark.)

These are tight pop songs musically, and loads of fun to listen to. Stephin Merrit or Tim Harrington he is not -- sometimes it's better to turn off your brain when spinning this disc -- but as a shoegaze love letter to a bygone era, "Midrange" is a dizzyingly fun musical confection.

I'm a big shoegaze fan, so I had high hopes for this album. I've only listened to this album twice since I've had it, so that should tell you what I think about it. There really isn't anything unique or special about this album. It's not that this album is bad, it's just not good. It also doesn't help that some of the lyrics are pretty cheesy. If you are expecting the next MBV, keep on looking, this band couldn't tune Kevin Shields guitar.

I actually didn't pick this up YET.....but the three songs i've heard sound a ton like My Bloody Valentine. i happen to very much dig MBV and all the bands that have emulated them, especially The Lillies. Can't wait to get my hands on this cd!