Customer Reviews

Ostrich

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So many good tracks for you that appreciate song writing and structure. Excellent musicianship and vocals. Do you know that song by the Beatles 'I'm so tired'? This whole album is like that but indie and complex.

I feel compelled after reading the previous review (with enthusiasm I share), to say that it is not their true debut CD. They released an EP on Muss My Hair Records, a tiny indy label in NYC, called "Anywhere Will Do". This is also a great record, with the same amazing guitar, vocals, and general coolness.

Beekeeper's influences run through Jawbox, Throwing Muses, June of 44, Scrawl and many others; but what's so refreshing about the band is how personal and unique their sound is. Clear, haunting vocals complemented by sweet and sour harmonic stylings. Check this one out!

I love this album. I would give it a higher rating but I honestly do not believe everyone who gives it a try will like it. My recommendation is to listen to the first song. If you like the first song you will love the album. If you don't like it than it probably isn't for you. The music is very dark, but very interesting. Matthew and Karla Schickle create some of the eeriest vocal harmonics belting out very powerful lyrics about the lack of care and responsibility we see in modern society. I wish I could elaborate on the content of this cd but it truly is hard to describe. Just remember to have an open mind when you decide to give it a go.

This is a really strange record, and not easy to listen to. While I can respect that, I also can't give it more than 3 stars. "Dead and Drugged" is a fabulous song, and the only reason I hang onto this CD. I love Karla Schickle's voice, but I much prefer her work in Ida than with Beekeeper. The angular, almost always minor key guitar playing throughout is original but tiring and eventually grating. Obviously some people are going to get into this more than I do, but if you're checking it out due to the Ida connection be warned that it is quite a bit different. I'd recommend "Listening Cap" by Liquorice (featuring Dan Littleton) for a nice Ida-related album. So: much respect to Beekeeper and their fans but it's just not my thing.

Some albums, no matter how much you may want to, are not easy to "get into." Beekeeper's "Ostrich" is one such album -- it has instrumentation and singing that is, technically, pretty good. But its sleepy melodies hardly ever vary in tempo or mood.

Beekeeper specializes in slow, ponderous art-rock, complete with lyrics full of loneliness and darkness, complete with plenty of references to war and death. "My dark side wants to know/why she gets to move like a butterfly/I do all that I can/but the wings that I have won't fly," Karla Schickele sings mournfully near the end.

With some entrancing musical arrangements, these songs would make your hair stand on end. Unfortunately, Beekeeper keep firmly in midtempo territory and seem determined to stay there. Their instrumentation is good, but it sounds lukewarm and passionless; after three or four songs that sound like that, they all blur together.

What is worse, the lyrics and the bare riffs sound like they were intended to be complex and enthusiastic. Instead, "Ostrich" sounds too stripped-down, as if the band couldn't bother to finish it. Very slow indierock does not suit their musical skills -- it could be great, but only if it sped up considerably, and traded in its fatigue for anguish.

Beekeeper occasionally bust out with some blippy theramin or chaotic bass, or an eerie, atmispheric intro like "Two Men's." "Dead and Drugged" is one of the few that shows energy and verve, displaying what this album could have done with a bit of passion. On the other hand, I'm not sure what the twelve-second "Noise" does -- okay, it's a brief blip of eerie sound effects. That doesn't fit in with the slow-moving rock sound; it sounds completely alien here.

Beekeeper has some musical promise, but the debut "Ostrich" is a bird afraid to take its head out of the sand. Has quite a few good moments, but flat and passionless as a whole.