Customer Reviews

Two Dancers

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

 

 

Wild Beasts will turn many heads. It will not be a surprise if some of those heads turn away. Their lead singers' styles of vocals are a bit unorthodox. They are particularly hard to describe. It's like a mix of Thom Yorke and Curt Smith (of Tears For Fears) at their most distraught. However, those that walk away from this band without giving them a fair chance will be surely missing out on what is essentially one of the best albums of the year.

One thing that will surely draw people in will be the stellar production of "Two Dancers". The organ pad on "The Fun Power Plot" starts off like a tractor beam sucking you in until the muted guitars and hypnotic drums break you out of trance. It's awesome. On my first listen, I was taken aback by Hayden Thorpe's 'all-over-the-wall' vocal style. On "Hooting and Howling," Hayden Thorpe's vocals aren't as hard to swallow. This is the first single from the album and it's a great choice. Hayden shows off this voice, which, while weird is equally amazing (like a quote from this song: "equally eloquent and ugly"). The product is, like "The Fun Power Plot" absolutely stellar.

There are a plethora of songs on here that are just amazingly written. My absolute favorite of the album is "Two Dancer (I)". This song features vocals from the other singer Tom Fleming, who does his best Tears For Fears' Curt Smith impersonation. The sonic guitars and pounding drums of the chorus of this song are the single best moment of the album and I am going out on a limb and place this song high in the top 10 best of the year. "Two Dancers (II)" offers more vocals from Fleming and more incredible production. This is a very gorgeous track. "Empty Nest" could be described the same way but it is more upbeat. There are a ton of U2 "War" era sonic guitars and pounding drums; trust me it all works.

Overall, I find this album to be a smashing success. This is some of the best production I've heard all year. This year has been all about the electronic artists stirring waves(Animal Collective, Fever Ray, Bat For Lashes, Miike Snow, etc). So, this indie rock album is a very welcoming addition to this years best releases. It doesn't take long, if at all, to get used to the vocal styles of this band. And I do attest them to be a welcoming fresh breath.

I purchased a used copy based on this recording's Mercury Prize nomination. Last night, I listened to this entire album three times in succession. This recording is relatively short, yet equally dense in its complexity. The production is top notch, the songwriting stellar, and the performances perfectly rendered.

With 'Two Dancers' Wild Beasts provide a musical journey that invites the listener to absorb it in whole, rather than break it apart into individual tracks. Coupled with a very tight rhythm section, the lead guitar work is interesting throughout. The vocals are the standout on this recording. With stream of conscious lyrics and enormous range and emotional complexity, it is perhaps the top vocal recordings in the rock genre this year.

I highly recommend this work!

The first song I heard by Wild Beasts was Devil's Crayon off their Limbo, Panto release. It must have been their first single because our local radio station (WERS 88.9) here in Boston gave it quite the rotation. I enjoyed it so much that I picked up their album. It wasn't bad, but as a whole, didn't equal the quality of the few tracks (Devil's Crayon/Vigil For A Fuddy Duddy) I purchased it for.

When I heard All the Kings Men, off their Two Dancers album, my interested was renewed. I sampled the songs on Lala and decided I would give the Beasts another go around. Overall, very happy with my purchase. It sounds like these guys are definitely maturing and the overall quality has gone up tremendously. Some of my favorites...

Very good:
- The Fun Powder Plot
- Hooting & Howling
- The Empty Nest

Excellent:
- All the Kings Men
- Two Dancers
- Two Dancers II
- This is Our Lot

Highly recommend picking this album up if you are a fan of good indie rock...It is worth every penny. Also worth noting that the production qualities are top notch, throw on a pair of good headphones and you will smile.

Whereas "Limbo,Panto,"their excellent debut, consisted of a collection of wonderful songs, "Two Dancers," is the result of meticulous song crafting. All ten songs work on the same level; not one song falls out of step from the one before it. "Two Dancers" has the unique ability to linger long after you've finished it. You immediately want to press the play button again and again, and by all means, do.

If "Two Dancers" feels more mature and sophisticated than its predecessor, then you're probably right. The music and lyrics are tighter and much more controlled. It seems the band knows which buttons to press and which not to press. They're more aware of what works and what doesn't. They have a goal here with "Two Dancers," and by God, they've achieved it! Keeping their animalistic and tribal mood but inquiring more of an atmosphere for those elements to exist in make songs like "Fun Powder Plot, We Still Got The Taste Dancing on Our Tongue, Two Dancers (I & II), and This Is Our Lot" stand out from anything on their debut album or any other album released this year, for that matter. "Two Dancers" is simply a gorgeous album.

A+
*Screw the 52nd Grammy nominations! This is the real Album of the Year!

Their second album, as good as the debut, if not better. Great band. Not your run-of-the-mill rock. No pandering to critics or commercially polluted FM radio. Truly good music.

I found this album on Rhapsody. I was searching the lyrics for a Ben Lee song I heard, and stumbled upon "We Still got the Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues" and loved the song. Usually, when I'm searching for a song and find the wrong song, I'm instantly annoyed by said song simply because it isn't the song I want, but I loved the song. So I searched the song on Rhapsody, and downloaded the album. I was very, very intrigued when it labeled it as Post-Punk (my favorite genre, long live, long love Echo & the Bunnymen), and stated its influences as Joy Division, Bloc Party, and Interpol, and Contemporaries as the National. I was beyond intrigued, and this band has opened a flood-gate of music I will worship.
On to this album: The singers voice mixed with the ambiance of the music could honestly bring your to tears. I know very little about the band itself (for now), and if both sounds of the vocals are the same guy, I must say wow. the androgyny of the voice is amazing. Take a chance.

I love this and the previous release, just adore it outside of all expectations. Nobody I have told about it can stand it, however. Don't care about the lyrics that much, better for me not to listen too closely on some songs, my imagined lyrics are better. But everyone talks about "the singer" and I know who you mean, but the "other singer" has the most entrancing voice I have heard in many years. It is understated and wonderful, I would give anything to hear him alone with music on the par of these two albums. Want more.

Aside from a song or two, I find this to be dreary, flouncy world music without enough meat to justify the presence of the singer, who is excellent. His voice deserves songs that go somewhere. Once in a while these guys manage a nice melody (the best example seems to be their lightweight but wonderfully catchy single "Brace Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", from another album) but they seem to prefer bland "tribal"-sounding jamming. Is this an album for gay stoners? I don't know. My copy depresses me, so I think I will get rid of it.

Do you remember The Shins' Wincing The Night Away? Not since that album have I heard something that sounds so adventurous, scratching the surface of a deeper oblivion of sound and so atmospherically emphatic.

Fun Powder Plot will make you wonder what in the world is wrong with the lead singer and also what drug he is on.

"With courage and conviction in donkey-jaw diction, we cry for the cause because the courts have left us lonely; disowned us daddies like the poopers of the party..."

Wild Beasts have the potential to be the best new band I have heard in the last four or five months. While they are not as good as Fleet Foxes, they still have melodies that will make you sit up and notice.

Track 2, "Hooting & Howling", has a sensational video, a sensational sound structure, about as catchy as the best of Cocteau Twins and the lyrics again aren't the easiest to catch. Arguably the catchiest song on the album and perhaps the best.

"All The Kings Men" is average.

"We still got the taste dancing on our tongues" did make me question the sexual orientation of the vocalist but keeping these things aside, I can safely vouch for the unbelievable windchopping melody and delicasy of the sound.

Two Dancers and Two Dancers II -> Sensational songs where the music takes the lyrics into overdrive. Truly remarkable.

"Empty Nest" reminds me of Elbow which is not such a bad thing I dare add.

Besides Phoenix, Animal Collective & Fleet Foxes, Wild Beasts are one of the best bands I have discovered this year. They have great potential to be the best and this album me curious about their first outing. "The Devil's Crayon" is another song by the Wild Beasts that's not on this album but worth checking out.

Highlights for me -> "Two Dancers" , "Fun Powder Plot" and "Hooting & Howling"