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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tear the Walls Down, August 9, 2009
If you approach this album from the perspective of punk, then I think you will be quite happy with it. If you approach from the perspective of the previous albums, you will probably be disappointed. Eyedea is doing his own thing here more in the vain of punk. All previous albums be damned. His lyrical attack and intensity in this album is excellent. And it is short but again from a punk perspective, it is quite normal to have short albums. The singing in some of the songs is really not what anybody was expecting, but from a punk perspective it fits in perfectly. How many punk bands had singers that weren't quite up to par but their message and intensity is what really counted? Eyedea could have easily brought in somebody else to sing or fixed it up with software. But he didn't. He wanted that raw unpolished sound which fits perfectly with the rest of the album. Abilities did a tremendous job with the beats in this album. He had to be pushed way out of his comfort zone and he succeeded. You can look at it as a short album or you can look at as an album that doesn't waste your time. This album is raw and quick like a sucker punch in the gut. I didn't see it coming, but I hope this is the start of something rather than a one time thing.
Listen to it at least twice. Once completely focusing on Eyedea and once completely focusing on Abilities. It's only 29 minutes, right?
If you haven't checked out the music video for Junk then I highly suggest you do. You get a much better feel for what they were trying to create with this album.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what most people were hoping for., July 22, 2009
I'm a huge fan of Eyedea. From discovering a brand new album called First Born from a "new and upcoming rapper", way back in the days of Audiogalaxy and Napster, through his entirely self written, self produced near-masterpiece The Many Faces. On to E&A, a still strong but disappointing return of the acclaimed duo, and then through these last few years of Eyedea's exploration of grunge, alternative, freestyle performance and jazz. Eyedea has, as an artist and as a lyricist, has had nothing but a huge impact on me as a hip hop fan and as a person, and on the underground scene. I have nothing but respect.
But with all that said, this album just leaves me feeling kind of let down. It's not that it's a big departure from what I would've expected. Of course many of us were hoping for the return of the pure, all hip hop sound of First Born and E&A. But this isn't that. For those familiar with Eyedea's side project Carbon Carousel (grunge/alternative), the sounds on By The Throat are noticeably influenced by that style. Honestly half these tracks sound like they should be under the Carbon Carousel name, and not under the guise of E&A. There's little pure hip hop on here, and a lot more fusion of that grunge/alternative/live band/hip hop sound, with just your occasional beat and scratch.
Right now I'm only on my second listen through, and despite being a disappointment, it's not a disaster. But here's my two biggest issues with this release. One, is that it's just clearly not the Eyedea & Abilities everybody's familiar with. You just know half the people that buy this record aren't going to get what they expect. And my other issue is, 29 minutes? Seriously? This is pretty much an EP, not a full length.
So here's the tentative conclusion. This isn't the E&A of old. This isn't the big reunion and homecoming most of us wanted. This is a brand new Eyedea, with an almost completely new sound (since "E&A"), and really, it should probably be under a new name. But if you can listen with an open mind, and can deal with imperfection (and short length), this release isn't a disaster. If you're a fan of Eyedea as an artist, and not just the old E&A sound, give it a chance. But many fans may be disappointed here.
Update 7/25/09: After a couple more spins, I will say some good things here. Eyedea is clearly more honest and introspective (and somber) in this release than previous E&A albums, and a couple of the tracks on this album are great. It also has good replay value, this is the kind of album that grows on you the more you listen to it. But with all that said, it's still 29 minutes, it's still a significant departure from what most fans were hoping for, and it's still lacks some cohesion and refinement. It's still three stars from me.
Update 8/10/09: Have listened to the album a lot more now. Still disappointed in the short length, and the overall lack of cohesiveness of the album. It still feels a bit unpolished. But I will say that the more I listen to it, the more I think Eyedea's on to something. A few of the tracks on here are strong, and hint at a sound that--if refined and expanded on some more--could blossom into something much bigger. But for now, this album itself is still 3 stars from me. Maybe 3 1/2. It's interesting and holds up to repeated listens, but it's still disappointing for the reasons stated above.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Stars despite the short length, August 6, 2009
I agree that this sounds more like Carbon Carousel than an E&A disc, props to Abilities for supporting Eyedea's vision, and props to Eyedea for pushing what "hip hop" is. This album is disappointingly short. On the upside, the more i've listened to this album and gotten to know it, the more interesting i find it. Also i've played it for some other fans of hip hop, and they enjoy it because it really doesn't sound like anything else out there. Abilities scratching is still sick, using the distortion gives his tables an almost electric guitar sound, bringing in memories of Tom Morello's guitar work in RATM. All in all this is a unique and solid album, also a brave release to put out under a (relatively) well know and loved underground/independent name.
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