Things to Make and Do [IMPORT]

Moloko

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 31, 2000)
• Original Release Date: October 31, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Roadrunner Int'l
• ASIN: B00004SCY9
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,045 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Radio Moscow

2. Pure Pleasure Seeker

3. Absent Minded Friends

4. Indigo

5. Being Is Bewildering

6. Remain the Same

7. Drop in the Ocean

8. Dumb Inc.

9. Time Is Now

10. Mother

11. It's Your Problem

12. It's Nothing

13. Bingo Massacre

14. Somebody Somewhere

15. Just You and Me Dancing

16. If You Have a Cross to Bear You May As Well Use It As a Crutch

17. Keep Stepping

18. Sing It Back [Boris Musical Mix]

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sheffield Based Dance-Pop Duo's Third Album. Includes the Single 'Sing it Back'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars experimental, if anything, February 18, 2001

By	Kate Estwing (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The number of tracks on this, Moloko's third full-length release, is somewhat false advertising: a handful of the tracks are more like short interludes. But, like the playful title and album cover, Moloko does not fall short of giving you something fresh to listen to. The catchy songs (like "Pure Pleasure Seeker," "Indigo," and "The Time is Now") are rightfully funky; while other tracks have acoustic, almost bluesy tones. Either way, Roisin Murphy's soulful vocals slide over Mark Brydon's intricate programming. The wide range of instruments gives this album its uncomfortableness--but maybe just because the range (Hammond Organ, Strings, Contra Bass Sax and Contra Bassoon mixed with digital drums and loops) is so uncommon. Moby labeled this album as one of his year's Top 5, and I can see why. Although I skip through some of the less melodic tracks, I give Moloko credit for creating an album with such versitality and energy that it is hard to compare this duo to another. And even if you don't enjoy all of the tracks, the album as a whole is fun and funny, with lyrics like the choir-shouting "Rameses! Colossus!" and teasing "You only wanna be in a garage band/You know you wanna give the gong a bang." Moloko knows how to be goofy and how to make a club hit, and makes it look easy; while there are actually two very bright talents crafting the music.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moloko Does It Again!, May 10, 2000

By	M. Nelson (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am always amazed at how Moloko continues to evolve from album to album, yet manages to stay interesting. Very few bands can make the same claim. Their sound generally falls somewhere between Cibo Matto's happy, upbeat dance, and Portishead's deep, funky churn. Roisin Murphy's voice is hypnotising.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Making and doing, November 25, 2004

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

UK dancepop duo Moloko are in fine form in "Things to Make And Do," their third blend of acid jazz and trippy electronica. The talented Roisin Murphy and Mark Brydon create a charmingly erratic dance album that sounds like nothing else, yet never fails to draw you in.

It opens with a peculiar piano solo, before kicking into the sexy sax-keyboard of "Pure Pleasure Seeker," and the ominously trippy "Absent Minded Friends." A darker note enters with songs like "Being Is Bewildering," which is technically a more "normal" song, a slow and rather melancholy song based on acoustic guitar and organ. Same with the lower-key pop song "The Time is Now."

There are also some more experimental songs, such as the nonsensical funk of "Indigo" or the creepy psycho-vocals of "If You Have A Cross To Bear You May As Well Use It As A Crutch." "Remain the Same" is perhaps the most experimental, with the vocal sampling and sound of the organ being overwhelmed and sunk by the electronic bleeps.

In this release, Moloko downplays the outright weirdness in favor of a more subtle sound. Call it experimental ultraquirk acid-jazz-funk-house-trip-hop. That more or less describes it. It's not just a fun album, but a richly engaging one with some deceptively simple-sounding songwriting.

Roisin (no, it doesn't rhyme with "raisin") Murphy has an excellent voice for this type of music -- it sounds clear and flexible, while being strong enough to rise over powerful music that could have overwhelmed her. And she brings depth to certain songs like "Mother," where she lashes out at her mother in a restrained manner: "I know somehow somewhere I'll be bumping into you/you see I'm blameless/I had a mother who was shameless/no wonder my life collapsed!" Elsewhere the songwriting is just deliciously bizarre.

Mark Brydon takes charge of the musical backdrop for Roisin's voice. And a fine job he does too, blending organic instrumentation like piano, acoustic guitar and rippling strings with some vocal sampling and deliciously wacked-out beats, sounding like anything from a DJ on acid to the funkier twin of Portishead.

Erratic it may be, but "Things to Make And Do" is also fun, wild and extremely eclectic, switching styles the way most musicians do instruments. It may not be their best album, but it is a wonderfully engaging, trippy one.