Wwi

White Whale | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 25, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B000FUF8A2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,937 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Punch and Intriguing, July 25, 2006

By 

William Block "Twisted Coil of Misfiring Syna... (Decatur, Al) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wwi (Audio CD)

Having never heard of these guys before, I was pleasantly surprised as I listened to it. It has a early Kinks flavor to it, (which I like) so it feels a bit retro. I must give kudos to the producer, as he obviously contributed a lot of the extra flourishes that make this album so interesting to listen to. The melodies are great, but I can't get Ray Davies out of my head. I gave it a four, just because it is so unique. It gets better as it goes along, and has an overall cohesiveness to it that should make it enjoyable for all. If you like Neutral Milk Hotel, you will probably enjoy this album as well...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why isn't there more hype?, August 11, 2006

By 

J Scotty "Total Chicken" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wwi (Audio CD)

I had read a few reviews of this before I bought it and they were all basically mediocre or slightly above average. Despite a member of the Get Up Kids being in the band, they rock with a sincerity and style of Crooked Fingers/Arcade Fire/Band of Horses and probably a few more bands I can't think of at the moment. Perhaps a little bit of Neutral Milk Hotel. Although, maybe I'm just reeling from the first few listens. All in all, Matt Suggs' voice and credibility bring this all together. Butterglory never had this much energy, but they did offer a clever line here and there ("the halo over your head...turned out to be horns instead"). It's got a sea-faring charm with some sincerity and I find it hard to see through them.
Which I can't say the same for Margot and the Nuclear So and So's.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jambase.com review, September 22, 2006

By 

P. Kaufman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wwi (Audio CD)

Side project or a super group? Such is not determined, but the listeners can decide for themselves. Lawrence, Kansas's White Whale features vocalist Matt Suggs of Butterglory, bassist Rob Pope of mope masters The Get Up Kids, as well as John Anderson, Zach Holland, and Dustin Kinsey of The Higher Burning Fire. They come from a state of being where they're not in Kansas anymore, Toto, as their debut release is epic, dramatic, and cinematic but not too much. They obviously contain the Peter Pan complex of the Arcade Fire while coming off as if it was the Decemberists who made OK Computer while on a field trip to The Village Green Preservation Society.

"O'William, O'Sarah" is a seven-minute-plus passage down a lane of mood swings that remains rousing and rollicking with its fuzzy organ lines. "The Admiral" is like a heavy chamber pop amelioration given to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune with a hair-raising choral breakdown, while the deep-water ambience that floods numbers like "I Love Lovely Chinese Gal" makes it seem as if White Whale has just stumbled upon the lost kingdom of Atlantis. "What's an Ocean For" is rather quaint in the manner in which it galvanizes the listener as "We're Just Temporary Ma'am" is tantamount to a crescendo sea chantey that a crew of tipsy nineteenth century sailors would sing around a bottle.

Be it instrumentally or vocally, WWI is delivered with tepid fervor on all fronts. It's the end of the world as White Whale knows it, but they feel fine, Matey.

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