Wilderness

Wilderness | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 5, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B0009WFENM
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,978 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't blame the messenger, August 12, 2005

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wilderness (Audio CD)

Well, after Pitchfork's review and the blurb on Jagjaguwar's website, I grabbed this immediately. I always liked John Lydon's vocals more than much of the music of PIL; I liked the earlier Cure's music more than Robert Smith's yowl. This album, then, sounds just right, I thought, as I listened to the first song. But then eight others followed with practically the same melody, beat, and pace. Make-out music for goths, perhaps? The template's appealing for a few minutes, but not over the entire album. It sets a mood, and then the mood sets in and stops any momentum or progression for 90% of the set. Only the keyboards at the end hearken towards another set of sonic possibility.

The band's not bad at what they do, but can't they do more? Combining what indeed is a Lydonesque wail with a steadily downbeat early-80s post-punk progression of chords works, as I said, nicely. But more musical experimentation is needed to offset ennui on the listener's part. If PIL and post-punk had somehow never existed, this pairing would be astonishing. 25 years on, however, to those of us who were around for the original inspirations for Wilderness, this marriage lacks spark.

I do hope the band continues to challenge themselves and stretch their capabilities further. I'm not willing to give up on them. For a comparison of another band on the label that re-works to better effect older influences, try Black Mountain's s/t debut.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Word, November 14, 2005

By 

your favorite band sucks (South Orange, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wilderness (Audio CD)

Johnny B, I completely agree about the Sigur Ros hook on track 4, I had that same epiphany the first time I heard it. I think they even use a similar reverb effect. Anywho, if you're all about whirpool acts of fatalist neo-psychedelia (and you've lost at the game of life if you aren't), then this album is your bag. Don't expect a tremendous amount of variation in sound, but I think the relentless atmospherics are one of the coolest things about it. A cohesiveness missing in many albums can be found here. Of course, if they continue to do the exact same thing on subsequent albums I may change my attitude...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars earth meets sky, December 16, 2005

By 

K. D. Kelly "home and away wrecker" (sf, ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wilderness (Audio CD)

Every once in a while a song slaps you in the face like Burgess Meredith in "Rocky" shaking you back to reality in the last round. Not since Frost Bite's "Loose My Mind" have I found myself playing a song -- this time Wilderness' "Arkless" -- over and over till it's raw and bleeding. But whereas Frost Bite's (the delicious-sounding pairing of Sugarcubes' Einar Orn and Kate Jane Garside of Daisy Chainsaw and Queenadreena) sole release fell short, Wilderness delivers a deft, dense nugget. Singer James Johnson's queer warble is worth the price of admission alone, like an oddly tasty pairing of cranberry and gorgonzola, at times reminiscent of PIL-era John Lydon, the more vituperate (and secretive) singer for Test Dept. and perhaps what The Fall's Mark E. Smith would sound like as a banshee. The music is percussive, clanging like early Savage Republic; occasionally jerky, off-tempo like Fugazi, but spacious and untamed as the name implies. The stew brewed is infectious and the 80s-fever bandwagon comparisons inevitable just as it was for Bloc Party, whose "Silent Alarm" channeled the frenzy U2's "Boy" while the band carved its own knot on the tree of sound. Unlike Bloc Party, Wilderness is not invited to your frat party - in fact, I have a feeling they're at home in the basement building homemade stalagmites.