Customer Reviews

Owls

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What happens when you cross healthy doses of experimentation, jazz, and post-emo? You get Owls. If you accidentally arrived at this page while trying to find the Rob Thomas album, let me save you some time...you will hate these here Owls. But if you're so burnt out on G-D-C chord progressions that you're seconds away from vomiting an owl pellet, then please, allow this band into your musical collection. But let me get one thing off my chest, I'm not going to even attempt to describe the schizophrenic guitars that have somehow discovered how to walk an invisible fence that lies between rhythm and lead. And there's no way I could relate to you how such brilliance and flavor arises from this seemingly chaotic mess. Those of you who prefer more beatifully symmetric and accessible indie should check out the amazing music of American Football, another bead on the Kinsella necklace. But you can't always drink chocolate milk, even if it's as good as the American Football flavor. Sometimes you need a red wine; an acquired taste like Owls. In place of the accessibility is perpetual mystery. It will force you to rewrite your definition of music. Think Zen. Think Jazz. Think of a carrot dangling from a fishing pole, just centimeters from your face, puzzling and enticing you into gloriously alien territories. The unadventurous need not apply. But to all the acrobats I leave you this truth about Owls: I am certainly addicted.

Good Lord. How do they do it? We marveled at Cap N' Jazz. We puzzled at, but loved Joan of Arc. We fell in love with American Football's beauty. Owls does not break the chain of genius. Imagine Joan of Arc with a consistant beat and Tim Kinsella singing (mostly) on-pitch notes. Now imagine the coolest songwriting ever penned. Owls fits somewhere in the middle. It's jazzy and sporatic. It's beautiful and disturbing. It's like nothing you've ever heard. After a few listens you will thank the music gods for allowing this record to be made. It will suck you in and not let you go. This is one of those albums that you won't leave home without. It simply will not leave your CD player no matter how hard you try. Well worth every penny. The only downside to this record is that it only has eight tracks. Mike, Tim... give us another one please...

To describe this debut is like describing the density of colors between clouds, or the layers of a jawbreaker - there are so many that they tend to blend together in chaotic perfection. Musical anarchy dosed in existential motion. The music alone is worth the purchase. The guitar work is like the voice of an alienated spirit, undaunted and complex. The rythmn is often joyous and warm, inticing every muscle to twitch and switch in accordance. Take only your emotional attachment to Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, AF, etc, but not your musical expections - though not far off the mark - The Owls have reached a structual perfection and the music has grown a symbiotic relationship with Tim's abrasive vocals and cryptic yet simple poetry. I recommend this CD with all of my heart and mind.

I love cap'n jazz.
I didn't love joan of arc so much, but i loved the way they played with language in their lyrics that was so reminiscent of the innovative cap'n jazz lyrics.

Owls is not either of those bands. I wanted to love Owls. I really really did. but it turns out I only like Owls. They aren't intense like cap'n jazz, but they aren't as experimentally cool as joan of arc. Owls are somwhere in between.

Don't get me wrong here. I really like some of the songs on this cd, but it wasn't what I was expecting. and it wasn't what I wanted. I'm just an old cap'n jazz fan looking for more.

Do listen to "Life In The Hair Salon-Themed Bar On The Island," "Everyone Is My Friend," and "I Want The Quiet Moments Of A Party Girl" to see if you'll like Owls. These songs are pretty good.

These guys have been together and not together in many musical endeavours, but this album surpasses everything they have done previously. The guitar work and drumming are great. Victor Villarreal goes everywhere on the guitar and it is fun to listen to. The bass and drums go right along with it. Tim Kinsella's vocal range from subdued screams to bad singing, but don't hinder the action as much as you might think. Often the songs are freewheeling around with Kinsella's vocal melodies bringing the song together. His lyrics are often interesting, altough sometimes appear not to make sense. Much more engaging than Joan of Arc, fuller than American Football and Owen, and more fun and singing than Ghosts and Vodka, and more mature and restrained than Cap'n Jazz, this cd will remind you how great these guys are together. While some people may be turned off by Tim's singing and the time is only about 35 minutes, this album is all in all a great album, and worth the money. Hopefully they will get back together and release another album.

This gets 4.5 stars, but I will give the boys the benefit of the doubt...

The album is more reminiscent of Cap'n Jazz than Joan of Arc, and, most accurately put, is a hybrid of the insturmental Ghosts and Vodka and the eccentricity and pretention of Tim Kinsella (even if you think he is a genius, you have to admit that he might be the most pretentious person EVER).

The album is ambitious, and has many high points, but perhaps the highest is the evolution of Victor Villareal's guitar playing: he is truly an innovator and a master of his instrument. He intricately picks the strings, and has practically invented a finger picking style of playing which is unfortunately unimitated and undeniably unparalleled. Vying for the same honor of album highlight is Kinsella's voice, which has matured with time and age, and is a compromise between the recklessness of Cap'n Jazz and the veritable silence of Joan of Arc. He screams when it fits, but restrains when it does not. Lyrically, the album is concerned with cleverness and intricate "micro" and "macro" plays on words, and motifs. It is much less concerned with any problem of identity or relationships (Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc, respectively). As for the cleverness, Tim and Mike Kinsella trade off and repeat singing "We fall into patterns quickly/We fall in patterns too quickly" early and often throughout a song, making a "macro-pun." Speaking of Mike Kinsella (Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Owen), he also competes for the highest point, as his drumming has really come to fruition. It fits well, and it is amazing that he plays guitar well in his other bands. With the talent he has, I figured that he lived at his drumset, but apparently not!

The songs are well-layered and very well-textured. This kind of production value means a big name. That name is the name that makes Chicago the producing and mixing Mecca: Steve Albini, of Nirvana and Pixies fame. So go look up Steve Albini, it will tell you anything you wanted to know about production value. Just keep in mind that he actually likes this band.

The only thing that keeps me from unabashedly giving it the full five stars (instead of the more accurate 4.5) is its brevity. 8 songs is the absolute minimum for an LP in my opinion, and although it works as an album, it barely qualifies. The only thing that saves it is the fact that it is just so well made, and in my mind, is such a startling take on the re-unity of old musician friends. That is plainly subjective, but anyone who liked Cap'n Jazz will have their mind blown by the sound of this album.

This is not to say that it is esoteric, or specific to any one taste or style. Quite the contrary, for instance, I made a friend who likes Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews who digs these guys (*NOTE* they do not sound remotely like either of these two guys). Take this anecdote to be a symbol of the album's diversity of appeal, and not a comparison its musical content.

The bottom line is that this album is for anyone with an ear for sound. It is, above all, a successful experiment in the sonic and auditory, and is always a pleasure to listen to.

"Fed handfuls of wetsand and tied down with drift litter the seabirds eat their eyes." I love this album. Unfortunately, it's one that I cant seem to hold on to, it always mysteriously dissappears. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I've bought it.

So many of these Kinsella projects end up yielding surprising results. Beneath crooked vocals and typical indie posturing lies fragile yet progressive guitar melodies that really do stand out in an ever-inundated, pseudo-edgy riff oriented field.

This is by far, in my opinion, the best Kinsella project. Unique guitar riffs, engaging, quirky notorious-Tim lyrics, and addicting. I reccomend investing in this album if you like Joan of Arc and Cap n Jazz but want a little more structure. It's math rock with a twist that is extremely hard to resist loving. I reccomend it to anyone who loves the Kinsellas. And if you like this- definitely check out Make Believe.

It is so sad that Owls was just a Kinsella experiement and not a band anymore. But that is why we have Make Believe as the Kinsella touring band now. Owls reincarnated!

after reading some of these other reviews I just wanna say, this album sounds more like cap'n jazz than joan of arc because owls IS cap'n jazz minus Davey (promise ring. Victor Villareal has alot to do with this sound and he wasnt in joan of arc. this cd is just a good solid album all around, and if you get a chance to catch them live go for it. I saw them and it was if nothing else, VERY entertaining. Victors playing is incredible, buy this cd and love it.