Customer Reviews

Zonoscope

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Zonoscope is the kind of record to get your groove on to. It's the kind of record where the band says "screw the haters, we're gonna make the music we want to make." It risks alienating the fans that hopped on the Cut Copy train after P4k's review of In Ghost Colours, but it's a bold artistic statement and a clarion call to dance. Where In Ghost Colours was flowing, articulate tribute to 1980's new wave anthems, Zonoscope proves to be a record full of deep cuts, with only a few tracks near-meeting the immediacy of Ghost gems (Need You Now, Blink and You'll Miss A Revolution, Alisa.)

If you want to like LCD Soundsystem but find Murphy too drab/tryhard/longwinded, Zonoscope is a record for you. If you legitimately like Cut Copy, this is a record for you. If you want to hear music that sounds like the album's cover, this record is for you. You can blast this one from the tops of skyscrapers when the ice caps finally melt and flood the world, and the apocalypse will be alright.

I will let other reviewers get into the nitty gritty of certain tracks and comparisons with Cut Copy's previous works and just say this: if you want to listen to a fun, chair-dancing (or even club dancing) album, this album is for you. Not only do I think that Zonoscope fits nicely with their previous body of work but I can also see this being high on my list of 2011 and am looking forward to dancing my heart out when I see them in April.

Cut Copy has slowly but surely worked its way up into the current wave of electronic dance bands, not unlike, say, LCD Soundsystem. The band's second album, 2008's "In Ghost Colours" (ok, 3rd if you count 2006's "Fabriclive.29" DJ mix album) was the great leap forward for the band. From being an interesting, if at time tentative, sound, the band now sounded fully confident, and at times massive. That album contained several instant classics, including a couple of borderline commercial breakthrough singles ("Lights and Music", "Hearts on Fire"). Now finally comes the long-awaited follow-up album.

"Zonoscope" (11 tracks; 61 min.) is not another "great leap forward", but instead a confirmation of all the good things we heard on "In Ghost Colours". The album starts off somewhat tentatively with "Need You Know", which is followed by a nice "Take Me Over" that reminds me somehow at times of another Australian band's (Men At Work) "Down Under" single. Could it be a subtle homage? The album now is firing on all cylinders. "Blink and You'll Miss a Revolution" is an irresistible dance-along, just perfect from start to finish with a strong melody that keeps going and going, and you just don't want the song to ever end, THE highlight of the album for me personally. A short instrumental after that ("Strange Nostalgia For the Future") ends the first half of the album. The second half kicks off with another great tune "This Is All We've Got". "Alisa" continues the good vibes. "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" is the only pensive tune on the album, just to catch your breath before the last 2 tunes, "Corner of the Sky", another dance-romp, which set us up for the album closer, the 15 min. blow-out that is "Sun God", where the band throws in everything and the kitchen sink, wow, just unbelievable, what a way to bow out.

In all, even though no new ground is broken, this is quite the album, and sure to end up high in my "best albums of 2011" list. For whatever reason the album includes lyrics to only 4 of the songs, why? That aside, I had the great fortune of catching Cut Copy on their "In Ghost Colours" tour at the Monolith music festival at the Red Rocks in Denver in September, 2008, and what an absolute great and fun set that was. Can't wait to see these guys again in concert. Meanwhile, "Zonoscope" is highly recommended!

It's not the shorter fist pumping tracks from the last album. Sonically this is a much better album. The tracks are longer and the progression is welcome. There are moments that remind me of some of my other favorite artists: Towards the end of "Pharoahs and Pyramids" is an instrumental section that almost sounds like The Radio Dept., and "This is All We've Got" reminds me of The French Kicks, almost like a B-Side from the "Swimming" Sessions. I mean this only as a compliment. At one point I listened to this album straight through twice in a row....I like it that much.

Love it for different reasons than I loved In Ghost Colors, but I am dancing just as much. Obligatory music review catch-phrase: More layered, organic, nuanced landscape of sound than its predecessor. Also more unified in a way. Cut Copy has a way of slicing up delicious elements of music and splicing them together in unexpected ways. They're also great at constructing an album as an entire piece. If you're looking for another Lights & Music or Hearts On Fire, you might be disappointed, but if you are looking for euphoria, there is plenty to be had here. They bring the cheese, and it is tasty AND good for you. A word to the wise: Sitting still while consuming Cut Copy may cause chi flow blockage or spontaneous internal frustration. I seriously recommend you listen to this album while in motion.

One could argue that if you have a good collection of New Order, Depeche Mode and a few other great 1980s synth acts, then you don't really need Cut Copy. And it's be hard to disagree with them. But since those bands are all so great, having a band who pull their influences from their is a good thing, no? I find this a really enjoyable collection of very cool dance tracks, great beats, cool vocal hooks, just great songs. It's a fun record. And there really isn't anything wrong with that!!

I have all of the Cut Copy albums to date, and this one took a few weeks to really catch on for me. After it did though, the choruses and breakdowns on each track have really stayed with me. If you know Cut Copy, they really bring a retro electronic feel to the table. Lot's of catchy hooks and progressive breakdowns. Plus their singer sounds at times like a mix between the Talking Heads or Cure singers.

If you don't like it at first, give it a few more tries. These guys are the real deal, and they can really rock a crowd. See them if you can.

My favorite tracks (and the one's that sound most like the previous albums) are 'Blink and you'll miss a revolution', 'Take me over', and 'Corner of the sky'.

Overall, this probably one of the better albums you'll hear this year...I never write reviews, but thought I had to step up for these guys who have made me, and plenty of my friends, fans of their music.

This is the album I would have expected after Bright Light Neon Love. Stronger songs and better production, but with a breezy feel - not the meloncholy tinge that gave In Ghost Colours a powerful emotional undertow. (In Ghost Colours remains one of my all time favorite recordings)

Still, Zonoscope is an easy to enjoy album. Every tune handles repeated listening and I find no reason to skip songs while I'm listening.

So 4 stars for, maybe unfairly, not living up to the high standard they set with In Ghost Colours, but still a very good recording.

I wouldn't have known who Cut Copy was if I hadn't heard the opening bass beats of "Need You Now" at a coffee shop. At first, I thought I'd wandered into a New Order remix album, but I was thrilled to find out it just sounds LIKE a New Order remix album. Personally, one of my favorite trends as a 20-something fan of left-of-mainstream "rock" music is the reincorporation of all sorts of 80s cheesiness I secretly (or not so secretly) always loved. "Need You Now" deserves to be held up to the most gleefully produced new wave 80s classics, with its commanding beats and seizing melody. It made me so excited that I bought Zonoscope, an album that sometimes matches that song's beautiful, pounding drive, but most often dances around in its discarded clothes. Where "Need You Now" is vintage New Order, "Take Me Over" reminds me of OMD's "If You Leave," and "Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat" reminds me of Boy Meets Girl's "Waiting On A Star To Fall," neither of which I have that fond memories of, but at least takes the cheesiness of those two songs and makes them reasonable danceable. On the other hand, songs like "Where I'm Going" and "This Is All We've Got" don't even register with that much personality. Luckily, some good songs keep it afloat - "Alisa," with a guitar and chorus yell that vintage U2 fans will love, or "Corner Of The Sky," with an album's-best beat of dark drums. Finally, "Sun God," the 15-minute climax at album's end deserves credit simply for earning its running time - at 15 minutes, it never fails to remind you of the soaring production and pop hooks that make Cut Copy such an appealing band. Buy it for the good songs and, for a better time, if it's on your computer, delete a few in the middle.

First off, let me say that I was attracted to Cut Copy by the electro / synth flavor of the band exhibited by In Ghost Colors. Listening to the sound samples before this came out, I worried there wouldn't be anything for me on this album, but I bought it on faith and found out that although this album is very different from In Ghost Colors, it still has a lot of what drew me to Cut Copy. There is a lot of great, borderline beautiful melody work going on here. This is the sort of album where you listen to it all the way through every time you listen to it; it has a mood which is pretty consistent from start to finish. Although a lot of the album has upbeat instrument work, there is sort of a haunting sadness to it, so if you came for happy vibes you probably want to look elsewhere. But if you are open to a good mellow album with a slight bit of melancholy to it, this might be just what the doctor ordered.