High Society

Enon

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 4, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Touch & Go Records
• ASIN: B000066SHX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,367 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
John Schmersal (ex-Brainiac) has upped the ante on the punk rock-synthesizer urgency captured on Enon's innovative debut, Believo! Now with Toko Yasuda (ex-Blonde Redhead) on bass and vocals, High Society's a more varied experiment. Sometimes it pays off quite well--"Window Display," "Disposable Parts," and "Old Dominion"--but the difference between the Yasuda-Schmersal songs is jarring at first. Which isn't such a bad thing--Yasuda's light and innocently girly backup vocals are perfect on "Natural Disasters," and on the riot-inciting, unruly "Salty," the two share more, making it likely that by their next release, the rough edges will be smoothed out.

Like Guided by Voices' Pollard, Schmersal's a prolific pop scientist, but more experimental. Enon mix scathing guitar riffs with well-placed distortion, electronic ephemera, and a Beatles-esque sense of melody. Still, through these 15 tracks, you'll also hear Devo via Ray Davies, Television via Thurston Moore , and Cheap Trick as interpreted by Big Black. If High Society were split into two albums, they'd both be more memorable. Still, as the cover art suggests, what could be more defining for our millennial angst than everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, perfectly confected Prozac nation noise-pop, especially when it sounds this good? --Cyndi Elliott

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars splendid!, July 18, 2002

By	John C. Rowland "i_am_electro" (cleveland, oh) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

much more structured and concise than enon's preceeding album, believo! a bit poppier and more accessible. plenty of clever lyrics, short songs, interesting blips and filters (from the brainiac days), and quite a bit of overall variety. really good stuff. i cannot get some of the songs like "natural disasters" out of my head.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Near perfect, June 1, 2004

By A Customer

Well there's not much else to say about this album. It's easily one of the best albums I've heard in the past few years. If you're just somebody who likes generic music like Nickelback, Korn, and the like well this is not your game. If you want to hear a band that manages to create catchy well constructed pop songs that are on the verge of genius then this is the album for you. There's many songs on this album that could easily be huge hits, but are too intelligent for the mass consumption of the music industry today. This is by far one of the rare gems in music that you'll not regret. The people that gave this bad reviews obviously are lame and know nothing about music. Check out everything John Schmersal has done, nothing has let me down so far.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest record ever., August 6, 2002

By	Zeus "beardedwindbreaker" (Lancaster, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Well, no.. not really. But like Brainiac's entire output, this record has the uncanny ability to make that thought run through my head whenever I listen to it. These guys could be the next Nirvana... but instead of increasing the popularity of fuzz pedals, Enon will singlehandedly be responsible for getting Moogs carried in all music stores. Though Timmy Taylor's contributions are missed, this is probably every bit as good as anything that Brainiac ever released...