Customer Reviews

The Ughs!

5 star:		(2)
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It may be the "storyteller" phase is (finally) winding down. This release has a mostly instrumental, primal-yet-refined sound. What voices are heard function in an inarticulate instrumental capacity. The music is rhythmic,ambient, weirdly distorted and organic - usually all at the same time. The songs wind along dark passages and take you surprising places.

Although some of the songs found their way into the sonic palette of "The Voice of Midnight" this sounds fairly different from anything else the Residents have previously done. It also charts out some very interesting territory I hope they further explore in future projects.

This is my favorite Residents album at the moment. It reminds me of Eskimo and some of the early albums -- not the Eskimo and early albums we all know and love, but the Eskimo and early albums the first time I listened to them.

I am a musician. This album is so refreshing to my ears that I can listen to it and think again about "what is music". There are sounds in this album that you would not expect on a typical album. Even though there are no "words" as such, the songs still seem to tell a story. This album allows the listener to be completely absorbed into this strange and new environment.

Yet, there are rhythms and melodies that help keep the album accessible to the average listener. There are also some of the familiar guitar sounds and vocal sounds from recent albums that keep the Residents thread intact.

Overall, this is a well-written, well-performed, and well-produced album that will be a treat to your ears.