My Grandfather the Cubist

Joy Electric | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 27, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tooth & Nail Records
• ASIN: B0017TCSL2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,607 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars perfect fusion of experimental edge and classic joy e, June 21, 2008

By 

A. J. basch (usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Grandfather the Cubist (Audio CD)

at first i listened to the mp3 snippets on amazon and thought that the vocals were really bad. It is so easy to pick out the bad and miss the good.

the truth is "Otherly Opus" was a hard act to follow vocal-wise as it is Ronnie's most ambitious effort in that area to date.

That said, isnt every Joy E album a hard act to follow? Let's face it; this guy comes out with an album every 1.5 years and a new EP every 6 months. And for the frequency of releases, the work is always quality. Big bands with hollywood style album budgets who release every 2-3 years often fall short of the standard of quality that Ronnie puts out.

I digress...

Short and simple, this album has fantastic melodies that tug at the emotions. The music is beautiful and the sounds, while totally Joy E, somehow sound like he has tapped into some new experimental ground, which is why I think this album is a good fusion of Joy E Experimentalism and classic Joy E.

The vocals are pretty stripped down, but I gotta say the synth production is possibly the best I have heard on any Joy E. Synth sounds = BIG!!!

And for $7.99, that is a STEAL.

No one and I mean, NO ONE, makes music like Joy Electric! There was, is, and will always be only ONE Joy Electric - No copycats, no imitations. Get this ALBUM NOW!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Joy Electric Masterwork., May 30, 2008

By 

Louie Bourland (Garden Grove CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Grandfather the Cubist (Audio CD)

It's almost difficult to believe that Ronnie Martin's Joy Electric has been making innovative records for nearly 15 years. Ronnie's latest release "My Grandfather, the Cubist" finds him breaking new ground while maintaining his trademark synth-pop sound. While the music has a slight hint of earlier Joy-E works such as "Melody" or "Robot Rock", "Cubist" displays Ronnie Martin's talents pushing the envelope in a full-forward thrust.

As with his recent previous efforts, "Cubist" appears to be another concept album with each track's subject matter dealing with some sort of historic invention ranging from the telephone to the telescope and the Escher-sketch. Also, for the very first time, the music is presented in a near-continuous context with the tracks either segueing into each or being separated by the smallest gap of silence possible.

Musically, the album is full of Ronnie's trademark ear-cathcing melodies and inventive lyrics. Tracks such as "Victorian Intuition", "I Recall The Telephone Booth" and "Whether By Horse or Horseless" will leave a person humming long after the music has stopped. The epic title track with its opening "Prelude" and closing "Interlude" is the most progressive sounding piece on the album and ends the entire album on an astonishing note.

With "My Grandfather, The Cubist", Ronnie Martin has proven above and beyond that there is life after the "Legacy" album series which ended last year with "The Otherly Opus". This is an album full of fresh musical approaches with all the Joy Electric trademarks firmly in place. If anything, it definitely shows Ronnie reaching a new peak in his long-running musical innovations without any sign of slack.

Another Joy Electric Masterwork. Highly Recommended!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Far From the Shore..., May 28, 2008

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Wor-El (Chicago USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: My Grandfather, The Cubist (MP3 Download)

First, to the avid Joy Electric enthusiast, this album is a delight. I'm not totally sold on the "raw" vocal approach (think of "Write Your Last Paragraph" from The Otherly Opus), but this is a great batch of songs regardless. Beautiful.

I used to think that sooner or later Martin was going to produce a commercially viable JE masterpiece, but the guy's just too far gone... out to sea. I mean that as a compliment, because he truly has cut his own path, and I don't think he's all that interested in commercial viability. Having digested this album, which really represents as much of an intersection of accessibility and the JE sound as anyone could expect, I'm realizing that this music has nothing in common with anything that's going on, anywhere. Nothing. That's a compliment, too... I'm grateful I can still buy music this creative, and it says a lot about Tooth & Nail as a label.

I hope I live long enough to see this artist appreciated.