Customer Reviews

Scary World Theory

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

 

 

Amazing how the same song can be great background/mood music, intense headphone listening, and lull you to sleep. Lali Puna have crafted beauty from simplicity, and you can see it right here in Scary World Theory.

Everything here falls easy on the ears. There's nothing harsh, no rough edges, just melody. Amazing how what sounds like simple laptop noodling can hold your attention throughout an entire album. There's not one song on this album I don't like.

I judge any album by its headphone value and longevity. If I can happily listen to this stuff in a pair of kickass headphones (noticing intricacies, hidden melodies and beats, and hearing the production quality), and do so for longer than just a few weeks, I find that I've got a keeper. Lali Puna is one of those bands.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling kind of down, I put on Lali Puna and my mood transforms. This music is, in a word, beautiful.

If you haven't heard any of their stuff, I suggest you treat yourself to some LP. In fact, go out and buy the damn CD, you won't be disappointed.

if you didn't hear tricorder or scary world theory yet and you listen to downtempo such as boards of canada, venus hum,park avenue music, or ladytron, you need this. both of lali puna's first two albums are excellent downtempo electronica, song/lyric-based rather than trancey or hypnotic-based (such as pan sonic, tosca, kruder and dorfmeister, etc.)

all the tracks are great. #3 bi-pet is just amazing.

i also highly recommend venus hum's debut album. kind of bjork-like but with no jazz!!

This is minimalist clicky beats, with quiet synth melodies. Most of the songs have vocals, all original and sung by a female member of the band in a sighing sort of voice with a German accent.

I bought Lali Puna's first release, "Tridecoder", when I originally discovered the band. I like this album a lot better. The overall sound is cleaner and pleasant to listen to. A few of the tracks, including "Bi-Pet", "Scary World Theory", and "Don't Think" are actually quite catchy and are stuck my head.

If you are trying to decide whether to buy "Tridecoder" or "Scary World Theory" I suggest ordering this album. It is only available as 1-2 week import, but it is much better and worth the wait!

It makes me smile, Lali Puna's last album is amazing, much better that their earlier works..too much MUM, so if you like Mum you'll like this album for sure.Buy it!!

Lo mejor de Lali Puna, mejor que los discos anteriores, muy a lo Mum, si te gusta Mum compralo ya!!, genial.Me saca una sonrrisa elctronica XD

Experimental pop as only Lali Puna can do it. SCARY WORLD THEORY eases out of the gate with "Nin-Com-Pop," which easily traverses the line between bucolic IDM and pop. "Middle Curse" starts with some glitch leanings, but quickly falls into line under Valerie Trebeljahr's understated vocals. The album as a whole is so quiet that you could almost forget it's on, but the gentle beauty of tracks like "Contratempo" insinuate themselves swiftly. For those who need more, "50 Faces Of" puts the percussion on a little heavier, and "Lowdown" goes full-on dancefloor. "Come On Home" pours on some moody breaks, and the brief final track, "Satur-Nine," closes the album on a clarion note. Not scary in the least, if you ask me.

I do like her vibe. It is why I purchased the CD. I have an affinity for the eccentric and unusual, it's true. Based on reviews of this young lady's music CD I thought that her music might be.
It is and it ain't. The problem I had with it is that there is a frightening sameness to the tracks which are simple, vocal driven ballads of a sort that likely appeal to college-age indie chicks more than anybody else. Though she hails from Germany, I think, her roots are likely somewhere in one of the old Iron Curtain countries, perhaps Poland. This shouldn't make a difference, one supposes, but one wonders if it does after all?
Like maybe she almost gets the cube root of hip but mistook an umlaut for an eszett in the equation and it somehow went wrong from there.
Other artists that remind me of what she is doing, and who all have a kind of folk electronic back drop are Jenka, and Bat For Lashes even though these latter are far more produced where Lali Puna is stripped down.
I know this isn't a very insightful review. In fact, I had forgotten that I'd purchased it until I got an Amazon recommendation as a result of it. I'm throwing two stars up there as a service to others who may be fooled by the high star ratings of other reveiwers.

Often described as a female Notwist, comparisons to the prominent Euro art-techno outfit do feel quite appropriate, right down to the micro-beats, compelling electro melodies, and glazed vocals. Dance music for those that do not, holding up quite unpretentiously.

I bought this CD on a whim about a week ago, and it's some of the best music of this type that I've ever heard. It's heavily layered, electronica-influenced "rockish" minimalism (similar to Boards of Canada, Metamatics, etc., but with a softer touch.) The lead singer's voice is beautiful, and the tracks are wonderfully crafted. The lyrics are often dark, but are delivered in a disarmingly playful way.

The title track is particularly good, but the album works very well as a whole. It's pop-ish and catchy enough to be comfortable for most people to listen to, but it's eclectic enough for serious music snobs as well. When I played it at a dinner party earlier tonight, everyone wanted to know what they were listening to; it was very well received.

I bought Faking The Books first and dug it so much that I went out the next day and bought Scary World Theory. SWT is far superior than Faking The Books. Whereas FTB cranks up the live instrumentation, in particular electric guitars, SWT perfectly fuses a more acoustic sound with layers upon layers of the most sublimely crafted electronic beats, clicks, rhythms and heartbreaking melodies.

Standout tracks are:
Middle Curse, a little ditty about quiting your day job with a lazy guitar melody and a lovely clicky break in the middle that plays on the sublime melody.

Bi Pet, which has slightly ambiguous yet very catchy lyrics. It's when the lyrics are repeated for the second round that song really hits a downtempo electro groove.


Come Home, which starts off sounding like someone accidentally dropped the needle on a record right in the middle of a warped piano melody. The break in the middle with the hiccuping vocals gives me goosebumps.

This is an amazing disc. I haven't stop listening to it since I bought it. A must have.

Just saw them live last night here in san francisco and unlike so many (electro clash, downtempo or whatever label you choose) bands they actually pull it off and wonderfully. So I picked up Scary World Theory and it is both inspirational and just great to hear kids out there not only holding the torch but making it their own. A must have.