Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshing, May 31, 2006
Matthew Herbert is a classical piano trained musician, but he has made a better name for himself in the field of electronic music. His recent efforts have been composed almost entirely from unusual sources: coffins, people vomiting, kitchen sinks, punching bags and various machinery. After all, the liner notes mention 635 separate items used for this album's creation, while the packaging cleverly gives us pictures of all of them (49 items per page).
If all this unbridled and eccentric sampling would throw you off, it won't once the record begins: it is unfettered and bouncy electronic music, albeit balanced with jagged political lyrics. However, these are sung by the lovely voice of Dani Siciliano (mainly), and make for a terrific listen. If you are only used to the smooth jazzy quietness of "Around the House" from Herbert(as I am), this will be a pleasant change, and a perfect summer record. One of the year's strongest albums.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4 1/2, June 22, 2006
for a field of music that is based on repetitive structures and 4/4 beats, this album is a bright ray of sunshine...
it is sunny, sexy, pop-perfect danceable music. it is essentially house, though i heard it referred to as "left-field house" and i think that is a perfect description. lots of movie style string swells, a nice dose of big band steez, jazzy and funky dollops of happiness and a great female singer enhance this cd from being house music to, well, left field house....house that comes at you from your peripheral vision, that becomes part of the environment around you....it is very organic, very danceable (i said that already) and very very fun....
i didnt give it a 5 cuz the first half contains most of the power, but i labeled it 5 because of the amount of boring tepid dance music that exists these days, and herbert seems to be ahead of the curve on creativity in such a stagnant dance music scene and deserves to be recognized for such. the whole thing is growing on me like moss. fuzzy, green moss
this is a great album to have drop right at the beginning of summer. so you can be sure to listen to it with the windows open, with the top down, on the grass, smokin grass, in da club (haha! just kiddin, but not really) and you will boogie, boogie, boogie, til you just cant boogie no more...
EDIT: I have to add, because it is not apparent in the review above...The second half of this album is really not house at all. It is very dowtempo, some of the songs contain very nice arrangments, but ultimately lack the dancy punch of the first four tracks, which are great for any late night...
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow., June 14, 2006
I heard a few tracks from the Matthew Herbert Big Band... which I liked... but this CD is amazing. So amazing, I've never bothered to write a review for amazon before, but this album motivated me to do so for the first time.
Combining mainstream, dance-based electronic beats with experimental jazz-fusion and politically conceptual music, this CD is both toe-tapping and thought-provoking... a rich album full of great melodies which sound like no one else I've ever quite heard before.
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