Customer Reviews

Today's Active Lifestyles

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At first listen, the incredibly jumpy mathematically arranged parts will annoy many. Furthermore, while there is an infinite amount of interesting melodies from song to song, they often break away into something completely different before basking in them for too long. In that sense, this album is extremely frustrating. But if they kept to one or two melodies per song, they wouldn't sound like Polvo---they would probably just sound like a really good Sonic Youth meets Dinosaur Jr. rip-off. That would be fine, but they decided to sound like themselves instead. It's also rather short, clocking in at about 41 minutes. So, this album is definitely not for everyone. For those who decide to step boldly into this release, what you get is a mixture of the screwed-up, the undeniably beautiful, the bizzaro insanity sticking out like a sore thumb; it all forms an abstract painting that is hard to understand at first, but slowly the meaning comes. Like one of the other reviewers said, it's hard to explain if you haven't heard. For those who like Thinking Fellers Union, Unwound, Sonic Youth, Slint, etc.

this is my favorite polvo record or lp at least. it is by far the most raw (rawest? whatever) of their releases and it is where, i feel, their ideas really came alive. the production is quite good, though the play is sloppy (beautiful sloppy) and the changes are quick and patched together...certainly not for you jerks who need a dj to take twenty minutes to ease you into something different. absolute brilliance, though it might take some getting used to. a better recording than "can i ride" ep and "cor crane secret," polvo introduced many of their signatures on this record and really explored their dynamics making it possible from them to perfect the medium of the ep with "celebrate the new dark age" and "this eclipse". it is definately more "out there" than their other records but it is truly polvo at their best.

if you're getting bored with rock muzak, i seriously advise listening to this album; if you need to hear one polvo record, i'd reluctantly say that this is it, although they're all amazing (despite "cor-crane"'s relative normality and "shapes"' forays into ironi-wankrawk mode)...

Oh yeah, they're all at least pretty good if not better than that, but this one is insanely good. The sounds that are tortured out of the guitars, and the resulting way that it shapes particularly songs, is what sets this one apart. It's hard to describe it if you haven't yet heard it... so just get it already.

Easily Polvo's greatest work, from the unconventional, noisy guitar work to the mumbly vocals, damn near everything about this album is perfect.

Where the hell did the negative reviews come from? And why for this specific album only? I'm just doing this review out of respect for the record to get it closer to the overall rating it should have- 1000 stars! Polvo's a deep gash in a lacerated cheek of goodness. You can't go wrong no matter what LP you buy from them, so freakin buy them all. The psycho guitars and thrashing drum beats will leave you heaving for more. The lyrics will send you into the spirals of the abyss. Just get it, man, and you'll get it!

I've been listening to Polvo going on eight years now and their cds still amaze me. One of the best bands around. Truly original guitar sounds.

I do feel this album is (like a previous reviewer wrote) a bit under-rehearsed. Still very good, but not the apex of Polvo that spoiled fans (like me) who've heard "Celebrate The New Dark Age" or "This Eclipse" have been conditioned to expect.

Noisy, jarring guitar-work that tries to sound edgier and grittier then the extent of its vocabulary suggests and ends up wallowing in various influential audio muck as the band tries on different distorted and compositionally weak approaches for size.

a step backwards from "Cor-Crane Secret", this one still has the same queasy guitar sounds but few of the songs have the same quality of screwed-up melody, clever arrangements, and sheer listenability that made that album work so well. Although this album has plenty of great ideas, the combination of melody and experimentation rarely gels in a very satisfying manner. Plus, a lot of the instrumentation is extremely sloppy, like they didn't even practice before recording it. Like all their albums following "Cor-Crane Secret", this one has a couple of good songs but never really makes it far beyond mediocre.