Customer Reviews

Singing Hatchet

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

 

 

While much can be made of the hazy Floyd feel of this album, there is more to it. There is a persistent folk/country flavor which reminds me of Acetone and,in a vague way, Will Oldham without the vocal eccentricities and, relatively speaking, fuller arrangements.(okay okay so Jim sounds like Gilmore sometimes!) Also there are some slowcore tricks in the delivery where lines and words are stretched for dramatic effect. In a way, these songs are a post-rock take on blues rock with the mood invoking the feel without ever resorting to obvious blues riffs or delivery. This album crawls and only occasionally swells. It holds together so nicely I am at lost to pick any one song while some are more realized then others. So buy this album if you want smoldering and hazy. A great respite from all those arena rock sounds that claim to be the next greatest thing. This is the real deal. And don't forget to put it on repeat. These songs just get better and better every time I hear them. The Sleeper Album of 99!

I came around to this album a bit late - reviews led me to believe that it was just another slice of Lo-Fi americana. But please trust me this BEAUTIFUL album is much more than that. On first listening I thought wow this really melodic, but quite dark. On second listening I just thought wow this is really melodic.........

The clincher however came a few days after buying the album, I woke up one morning with a song in my head and couldn't work out where I'd heard it or if it even existed (It was so pure and beautiful - almost like a dream). It was only later in the day when I had the album on again that I realised the song in question did exist 'Find the Hour' was the song in question and I doubt I'll hear a more beautiful song all year long - buy this album.......................

This album is something completely unexpected. Think of a mix between "we dance" era Pavement and the more polished moments of Will Oldham's genius. One reviewer mentioned the 'red house painters', and while I am a fan of the band, this is far less self indulgently miserable. While there is an overriding feeling of melancholy, the texture is far more folksy and piano driven. The pace of the album is slow and plodding...a enchanting listen from start to finish...

Good lord these guys can do something to your soul. This is the type of situation where you hope that no one else gets into the band because it seems like these guys are whispering beautiful and melancholy secrets to you and only you. I don't know what makes me so possessive of this album, I guess it's like finding a treasure and wanting to bury it so that no one else can have it. Listening to the album, it's hard to believe that they got out of the trance long enough to actually go to a recording studio. If you don't buy it, it's fine by me, I'll keep it to myself.

After seeing them live in NYC, my girlfriend (who had never heard of Radar Bros) said "they're good, but I was afraid they were going to hypnotize me." This odd description of the band seems to apply best to their second LP, the Singing Hatchet.

The album is a collection of 12 melodic, relaxing songs with an unsettling hint of sadness (which are nothing more than a series of well placed minor chords.)

It starts off with the highly experimental and weak "Tar the Roofs", which only seems to slightly fit the album. While not everybody would agree with me, this track should have been left off. Luckily, this is where the mediocrity of the album ends.

"Shifty Lies" is the Radar Bros at their best, with its subdued verses and rousing chorus. Other highlights include Shoveling Sons, Open Ocean Sailing, You're on an Island, and Find the Hour.

The album as a whole has the odd ability to have ach song sound identical to the previous, but each one is distinctly different. Essentially, this is an album, unlike most bands who release a compilation of songs, the Radar Bros create a slew of songs that blend and fit together so well you may not notice when one track ends and the other begins.

If you're still unsure as to whether or not to check the album out, Amazon does offer free mp3s of "Shifty Lies" and "Open Ocean Sailing". Though these are some of the more "upbeat" songs of the record, they are a great cross-section of the Singing Hatchet.

i think the references to Floyd are a distraction. the production values of Singing Hatchet are astonishing. haunting & beautiful, hear the magical arrangements like on 'to be free again'. this was made on a far away planet but with ours in sight.

Do you dig these pre-"Dark Side" Floyd tunes?

"Green is the Colour" "Cymbaline" "Burning Bridges" "Wots..uh the Deal"

Then go buy the flippin' "Singing Hatchet" and feel no guilt.

the radar bros were one of my great finds of 2006. this is my favorite of their uniformly excellent recordings. here they sound like a low budget, indie-rock pink floyd. mellifluent songs that float along in a dreamy haze. tunes like beautiful ships sailing lazy on a calm sea, you soul their port of call. haunting, easy to love melodies, ripe for the heart to fondle.

I've already written an over-the-top exposition on the God-like qualities of this band under the Fallen Leaf Pages, I'll keep this short.

It's brilliant and gorgeous. Possibly not quite as transcendent as The Fallen Leaf Pages or The Surrounding Mountains, but that would be quibbling.

If the Bellamy Brothers had ever explored their dark side, they'd sound something like this.

Every track is brilliant. They share with Galaxie 500 the ethic of recording the same song but it's such a great song!
Songs like Shifty Lies and Shovelling Sons prove that this album is the most successful marriage of uplifting melodies and downbeat lyrics since The Smiths. This is mainly due to Jim Puttnam's disarmingly gentle vocals.
A remarkable band.