Customer Reviews

Moon Pix

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I asked a friend to give me something tranquil to listen to while I study, she gave me "Moon Pix" on tape. Stilling and haunting, it proved entirely wrong for my purposes, being just the kind of music that makes you gaze off into the distance for long moments, forgetting where you are...Not that I minded.

Spooky and off-kilter, this album is maudlin the best way. Chan Marshall (is that her name?) adopts a kind of child-visionary persona, delivering an idiosyncratic mixture of surreal, direct, and insinuating lyrics that are enough to rend your heart the more you hear them. Her voice is husky yet pure at the same time, and she's at her best with minimal instrumentation, just stark vocals and a muffled guitar, sounding like the saddest, most hopeful person on earth singing to herself in an empty room. If you know what I mean...
Nonetheless, I can understand why a lot of people might fail to see the weird beauty in this album, especially upon first listen, and it's very difficult to know whether you're the kind of wistful oddball this will appeal to unless you try it for yourself. Take a gamble and see.

I didn't love this album when I first heard it. I thought it was "nice"... "beautiful" even... but that was all. That was in the summer of 2001. Today I would rather sever my right arm off at the shoulder than be deprived of this great work. Chan + the dirty three + Australia = perhaps my favorite album of all time. I know there are a lot of five star reviews out there, and I've added one more to the pile, but you may take comfort in knowing that this is the only review I'll bother to do because Moon Pix has come to mean so much to me.

I was extremely sceptical to listen to this record. It was a suggestion from an ex-girfriend, and I really didn't want to like it. I reluctantly popped a copy of Moon Pix into my car stereo and gave it a shot. From the opening 'paul revere' drum loop to the last breath of chan marshall's voice, i was hooked. This record is simply one of the most honest and remarkable independent releases of the nineties. When I say honest, I mean it. There's an authenticity in miss marshall's music that can be found on very few records of the same musical nature. Moon Pix is not a stunning technological breakthrough, nor does it make any profound musical revelations; What it does do is allow the listener to be fully absorbed and entranced by probably one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Honesty...let's explore this idea. Critics could (and do) write this record off as a girl trying too hard to 'sound' honest. What I don't understand is the reasoning these critics use. Here is a songwriter pouring her emotions into the public's ears with everything she can give, and its passed off as 'trying too hard'? Give me a break. That's exactly what makes this record so perfect. Chan's ability to craft these tunes with as much emotion as I've ever heard is not just unique in these musically apocalyptic times, but is so important. So 'boo-hoo' to you closed minded music fascists. Try writing a song with only two chords and make it as beautiful as a chopin piano concerto. This album made me second guess my leaving my ex... Man it has to be good!

Many previous reviewers seem to have complained that Cat Power's most recent effort at understated indie rock is underdeveloped, lazy, and that the songs are very similar. Well, alright, but isn't that the point? Why exactly is a stark sound of sadness considered unfavorable and characteristic of a less-than-excellent record? After all, can anyone really imagine Cat Power singing happy, upbeat pop songs backed by lush keyboards and chiming guitars? Some may prefer energizing rock music over her haunting lamentation, and some may prefer polar variety over very atmospheric "mood music," but no one can deny that Cat Power seems to have succeeded in her endeavors. (Anyway, who are we to decide whether her album was a success or a failure?)

After listening to all of "Moon Pix" once, it's easy to write it off as "boring," "ethereal," "repetitive," "underdeveloped," "weak," etc. But you will find (as I did) that, after repeated listens, some songs are very memorable, and others will strike you in a certain personal way: perhaps "Metal Heart" will affect you the way as did your conversation last summer at the church picnic with that widower who had had a near-death experience; perhaps "American Flag" reminds you of that quiet skinny girl you knew in high school; perhaps those first few lines of "Colors and the Kids" perfectly voice the opinions you held as a teenager living in Nashville, dissatisfied with the music scene there, and perhaps "You May Know Him" brings back unusually fond memories of those times despite the unhappiness in which you wallowed.

Hell, that's what Moon Pix did to me.

(And I'm not even sixteen years old yet.)

I listened "What would the community think?" thousands of times and I must confess that I waited more than a year to buy "Moon Pix". I didn't think Cat Power could do another album like that, with this kind of black magic. I didn't want to be disappointed. I was wrong... "Moon Pix" is reaching higher level of beauty; if you don't agree with me, just try to press "play" when you are alone, put out the light and listen to the whole album. If some friends of mine are reading this review, they will remember the idea. I can't understand why people are trying to compare Cat Power with Lisa Germano, Tori Amos or Paula Cole (Paula Cole?? that's a joke or what?). Cat Power is living in her own world, not in ours. She's a wonderful loser and I don't think the kind of recognition Tori Amos has would fit her. Just one more thing. I have always been a Sonic Youth fan and I loved the Sonic Youth's rythms and sound on the previous album. But, finally, CatPower's songs are far more intense along with a flute or a clarinet.

A friend gave me this album after she had been to a Cat Power concert in Seattle... forewarning me that although it is stark and beautiful it also creates a warm, sleepy feeling.

She was right. I listened to it in the car driving with a friend from Vancouver, B.C. back to Seattle. And while the music resonated through the car and actually inspired me (good thing, since I was driving), my companion fell into a sound slumber). This music is like a slow lullaby OR gets into your soul and stirs you. For me, Moon Pix did the latter. I listened to it ceaselessly for a few weeks. My friend informed me that Cat Power was returning to Seattle. We attended the show, but the room being dizzyingly hot and crowded coupled with the disarmingly quiet one woman performance... making the whole experience memorably somniferous. We eventually had to go into the other room and listen from afar because it was too sleep inducing... (turned out to be a mistake since we met a weird Finnish man who had not showered in a month or so!)

Whatever the case, Chan Marshall's vocals are unusual and not always beautiful. They are stark and often sound like... reality. There is no other way I can think to describe it. There is an earthy, slightly raspy tone to her vocals, the lyrics are painful and intelligent... and overall, this is an album of such ambitious searching that you cannot help but love it.

First time hearing this I wasn't terribly impressed, but after I realized it wasn't going to speed up and I actually paused and listened to the words, it really grew on me. The gentle melodies are comforting, and her voice is edgy and beautiful. A very calm collection, almost disturbingly so... I'd reccomend this to those who are willing to sit and ponder peacefully.

While there is nothing spectacular, ground breaking, or even unique about any one track, Moon Pix is one of those discs that will not leave my CD player. I give credit to both the artist and Matador on this. All to often it seems acoustic performers, especially after a few minor successes, get caught up in the instrumentation to success route. This is for good reason -- add a back beat, and you've got a potential hit single on your hands. Singles sell CDs, unfortunately CDs don't sell CDs in mass. I couldn't imagine any track herein getting much airplay on anything other than college or public radio.

Thankfully, in traditional indie fashion, this work has been left intentionally underproduced, with a few precious anomalies left in for good measure. This provides an intimate feel which allows the artist and her songs to show through. A hauntingly beautiful voice, intelligent lyrics, and strong emotion do make the cut here...

If you like this album you may want to take a listen to Low -- who pioneered sparse pop genre.

I don't even remember finding out about Cat Power, but I listened to her newest album, "The Greatest" and fell in love with her emotional style of singing. I checked out "Moon Pix" and it happened to be a chilly, rainy day. Let me just say, this album and a cloudy, rainy day go hand in hand. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and the lyrics tear apart your soul. Some people think Cat Power can't sing, but Chan Marshall (her real name) proves that you don't need to have a Mariah Carey voice to be able to have beautiful music. And trust me, Mariah Carey doesn't even come close to Cat Power!

I bought this cd based strictly on these reviews. I received it today. I'm listening to it now; I've been listening all day. There's something about it I can't shake. All the reviews were ultimately favorable, yet nondescript. It seemed so mysterious I HAD to check it out. Moon Pix is a bit like the Velvet Underground, Kristen Hersh, Mazzy Star and the Cowboy Junkies all rolled up together but never as good as any of those, yet still good. Moon Pix is not great, but it could be. Moon Pix is full of MOMENTS and all those beautiful melting moments have entranced me. The music is there, although at its worst its repetitive. The emotions are there. The mood is set. Her voice is beautiful, but I'd love to see her bloom into a more mature lyricist. With so many glowing reviews of this disc it's surprising to see nothing under Cat Power's other two discs.