Customer Reviews

It Was Hot We Stayed in the Water

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

 

 

After purchasing and finally becoming very intrigued by The Microphones latest release "The Glow, pt. 2," I rushed to get this album. I was hoping that since I had spent so much time getting adjusted to The Micorphones sound that this would not be hard. It was not hard at all to like this album because it's great just the same.

Structurally, it's very similar to "The Glow, pt. 2." One exception is that there are fewer songs on this release. The song titled "The Glow" is a sonic masterpiece. It measures in at just over 11 minutes and takes you through so many soundscapes you wonder how many songs you've listened to in the 11 minutes. It's probably one of my top three songs by The Microphones yet.

The first song, "The Pull," is very reminiscent of the first track on "The Glow, pt. 2." It has the signature Microphones acoustic guitar that has been manipulated to shift from speaker to speaker. Most of the songs on this album could be on "The Glow, pt. 2." Most of the songs from "The Glow, pt. 2" could be on this album. If you like one, you're sure to like the other.

I would have to say that I still like "The Glow, pt. 2" just a bit better. As with most people's opinions, I think that this album just barely falls short of being incredible. I still enjoy it a lot, though. I certainly won't complain. With the exception of "Drums" I pretty much like every song on the album.

Two songs in the middle of the album that just blow me away are "The Gleam" and "The Breeze." The Gleam is completely fuzzed out and has the most "user friendly" sound. "The Breeze" is what I would imagine Godspeed You Black Emperor! to sound like if their songs were cut down to 3 minutes. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good comparison to most of these songs.

I've heard that Phil Elvrum is already working on his next album to be released later this year. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like. If it's anything like the last two, it should be an incredible piece of lo-fi heaven. I should also take this opportunity to suggest listening to their album called "Don't Wake Me Up," which is also on K records. It's not quite as great as these two albums, but if you like their latest two, you may want to check it out anyway. It's signature Microphones material.

I will admit that the average listener may not be able to appreciate the music that The Microphones are putting out. How many of us, though, have albums in our collection that we hated at first and then came to love even years later? That's how I feel most people will be with The Microphones. Once your hooked, that's it. Buy this album and buy "The Glow, pt. 2" while your at it. I'm sure you'll come to really appreciate the work that is being released here.

"It was hot" is a sonic translation of how the ocean looks, how the sunlight feels on your skin, how the wind bends branches around. It demands a lot of the listener but it's a rewarding journey.

Phil disassembles traditional "pop-song" structures and rearranges them at the service of raw sensation. The result is not "fragmented", rather it is a different deeper kind of completeness. It is no exaggeration to say that time works differently when you listen to this record. It's like when you go out to the beach to watch a sunset, or climb up a tree to think about things. Every moment is so radically full of beauty that time doesn't seem to pass.

If you think it's "boring", you're not listening very closely. You have to listen to it with active passivity. Let yourself be vulnerable. Subtle variations in panning, sounds that come up over you like waves. Incredible attention to detail. Get this record and everything else Phil has ever done. If you can find a copy of the vinyl pressing, it has a cool pop-up cover!

P.S. that mean person calls me a tree-hugger. i'm ok with that, as i do indeed love trees. I like sebadoh, too. but they are loose and raw, while the microphones pay attention to every precious detail. There's nothing mediocre about this album. It's not druggy escapism...it's about experiencing reality more completely. Be brave. Dive right in.

After hearing The Glow, Pt. 2, I was most interested in pursuing this band called the Microphones. My next step, as I saw it, was to move backwards and purchase their previous album, It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water. (Ironically, the title comes the song "Where It's Hotter Part 3," which does not appear on this album).

This was a monumental purchase. It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water is almost as good an album as The Glow, Pt.2. It's infinitely more accessible, with songs like "The Pull" and a cover of the Eric's Trip song, "Sand" gently introducing newer listener to the quirky experimental style of Phil Elvrum, the "band's" only static member.

The centerpiece is an eleven-minute song entitled "The Glow," which is one of the best experimental pieces I've heard in a long time. It goes from a mild voice with acoustic guitar ("The glow came down from the hills"), continues into a nearly-dissonant chorus with organ, back to the guitar-voice combo, then the creepily angelic voice of Mirah ("Hey, wake up, it's me, the glow"). Then, with a sudden crash, it becomes a rock song ("I started to glow"), complete with "woo-woo" backup singing, before eventually fading out into shadows and whispers. But it's even more than that, what with all the layering of instruments and voices. "The Glow" is definitely the highlight of an already great album and is alone worth purchasing It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water.

While the recurring motif of the last album was sleep, here it is the beach. There is a wider range of instruments used here than on Don't Wake Me Up, and as good as that album was, this has a richer sound and better melodies. Also, to my delight, the songs here are, on the whole, longer. The band is still noisy and arty, though NOT pretentious. There is a method to the madness...and if you are patient and give this album your full attention you will be rewarded. If you were able to appreciate Kid A, there is a good chance you will be impressed with the Microphones, Radiohead's indie punk counterparts.

phil and all of his friends have made a great record. at once grand and spanning subjects such as the ocean, the snow, trees and fog, and at the same time like someone whispering non-sequetors into your ear as you drift off into sleep. the album fuzz-s out with amazing simplicity and then surprises you over and over again with its delicate orchestration. He's a kid who has created an intricate miniature landscape from which to tell fantastical tales with shadow pupets. or something. this album is availible as a pop-up gate fold record (hand made covers) and as sheetmusic. I have all three versions, and love to read along in the hand made sheet music book while i listen to al the layers of sound and voice. it makes me feel like im wrapped in a blanket sleeping under the ocean. its warm and fuzzy but at the same time makes you feel the grandeur of nature.

I will fully admit this is a hard album and band to get into. Some things are very lo-fi, noise related, experimental, not really song oriented. If you can get over all that, what you have here is a very creative album of what I would call song snippets. Most would say that "glow" is the best song on the album, I really like that song, but I would say that "the pull" is the best song on here. The simplistic syncopated guitar chords, the harmonies hark back to "children of the future" era steve miller, and then when the drums and distorted guitar come in, its amazing.

Through the use of all analog equipment and a few friends, Phil Elvrum has created an entire world within this album. (NOTE: This Is Headphone Music; a lot can be lost without headphones)This world is created through looped sound effects and subtle organs and other crazy sounds.
By listening with eyes closed you can imagine a whole new world that you are journying through as the album progresses. For example, "The Glow" starts out on snow covered hills with wind whipping in your ears. Sounds in the distance draw you towards them and you become tired & fall asleep in a tiny cabin you found at the top of the hill. Suddenly a door creaks and you feel a presence beckoning you, and you intuitively get up and start your trek once again until you find a body of water just across the hill. You jump in and glide through the water until you reach the cold dark ocean floor. But you feel a warmth nearby. It is the glow.
"The Glow" is one of the most brilliant songs I've ever heard. 11 minutes that you wish would last forever.
"The Gleam", "Ice" and "Karl Blau" among other songs just add to this album's brilliance.
In Fact, the entire album is completely original, I can't think of any comparible albums. Also, on top of everything else, this album has a very humble quality to it.I do recommend this; In fact, I highly recommend this.

The sense of trying a little too hard is pervasive throughout this album. However, the fact that Microphones is even trying to create thought-provoking music, built on experimental songwriting techinques and sonic landscaping puts them so far ahead of the monochromatic Top 40 FM radio crowd that "It Was Hot..." is at least worth a listen. The band thinks it's a little too good for its own sake. And ironically, the composition of the album is hurt by the inclusion of its best song. "The Glow" is "It Was Hot..."'s most involved exploration of form, melody and sound construction. A few of the other tracks, however, offer the impression of having been cobbled together haphazardly with the expectation that listeners would be so wowed by the centerpiece track that their critical threshold would drop. That's a shame. The talent so evident in "The Glow" should shun the inclusion of the uninteresting filler, "Drums."

Secondarily, a few of the songs evolve in very pleasant ways. However, most seem to remain too close to their middle ground. Fuzzed out and imprecise is nice, but when you're able to create the beautiful textures seen in traks like "Something," and "The Gleam," it makes no sense not to work the other tracks as thoroughly.

One listener complained that moments of pure beauty were sparse and too far between. I disagree with this assessment. At various points, vocal harmonies approach each other, seemingly at random, until perfection is achieved. This album is about the search for these moments, and any attempt to water down "It was Hot..." with pop and brightness and assonance wouldn't help the album in any substantive way.

Again, the band merely needed to work harder to present a uniform product whose average more closely approached the genius of "The Glow" and "Something."

If you like long periods of pretentious and obnoxious noise of the no musical ability variety punctuated by all too brief moments of actual beauty, by all means order this now... this guy needs to learn how to write songs BEFORE applying the jeff mangum fuzz pedal to everything ...(!)... I'd rather listen to Stankonia...

I don't hate this album, but, then again, I wouldn't really classify this as an album; that word suggests that songs are involved. This is more like a collection of neat sounds. Any time The Microphones start to make something like cohesive music, they're off again before you know it to the recording of noise. It's really boring. Also, it has no pace or direction. It's totally fragmented. Maybe these folks want to take music in a new direction, but in order to do that you have to actually take a direction, which they have not.