George Breaks it Down
We sent our friend George Hrab a copy of the new EP.
Here's what he had to say about it
1. Wheat Hat
Great title, out of the box. LOVE the pseudo theremin vibe.
(real theremin? don't think so, but ya never know...anyway) Very haunting,
and I love the second half of the melody. 'Twas tuck in my head. In a good
spooky way. Oooooh. Keyboard takeover at 1:20 is great too. Nice "non
stock" sounding arpegiation. GREAT timbres abound. Fantastic use of beat
box at 2:40. THAT'S the way to use a drum machine vibe. Kewl. Love the clavanova
thang too. REAL Keneally vibe here... actually throughout the whole record.
Kinda has that "Looking for Nina" low vocal feel. Excellent. A real
fun five minutes.
2. There's No Trolley
Great intro, nice 11. LOVE the interspersed keyline and really
dig the triplet feel change avec marimba. Nothing makes my Zappa imbued DNA
happier than a doubled guitar line with marimba/xylo. Ahhh! Nice. Great melody,
weird but still.. you know... MELODIC. Great brain 'plosion in the last 5
seconds of the tune.
3. My Hands...
Another great title. Nice ambient big/tiny drum sound. Does
that make sense? I like the reverb being cut off on the band breaks. Lovely
use of big and small textures and sounds. Great "Steve Howe on a bender"
solo. (like "booze" bender, not "Fender Telecaster B string
bender"... but I 'm sure you know that...) Again- great interspersed
use of guitar harmonics for the transition. Then the drums are back and here
we go! Nice pseudo-modulation at 3:57.. foold-ya! Sweet. Drums a little busy,
but what the fuck. OH NO A FADE! S' ok though. I forgive you.
4. The Silence of Perez de Cuellar
And AGAIN- great title. YEAH- Gimmie gimmie gimmie doubled
melodic lines. Nice key sound. Is it a Rhodes? Is it a vibraphone? Yes it
is. Great drum breaks at 1:28 and on. Cool Brain / Tim "Herb" type
fills, but more efficient. LOVE the vaudville fill end tag thingy at 1:52.
LOVE IT LOVE IT. This kind of silly winking is SO FUCKING MISSED in this kind
of music. Just fun, dood. SOOOO fun. Congrats.
5. Meat Whores / Glass Eyed...
Very nice guitar sound. Again- Big Keneally vibe here, for
me. Makes my teeth hurt. NICE. Total HAT vibe, but NOT a ripoff. Your own
thing.. sweet. AH- there's my Marimba again at 1:45. MORE PLEASE! Nice tom
work on the reprise. Great guitar sounds, and again great timbre. Ah the chord
at 2:26 just SCREAMS Mikey. LOVE IT. Again- this is a HUGE compliment, believe
me. WHO THE FUCK SOUNDS LIKE KENEALLY? I hope you take it the right way. Anyway-
Lovely transitions abound. Like here at 2:30 and on. Guitars are back and
are just lovely. GREAT bass drop out at 3:34. Why should only the drummer
get to do a fill? A guitar fill too! Great. Could be my favorite 4 seconds
of the album. AND THEN- Nice robot bebop. Swing you TR-808 bastard, SWING!
Nice. Great Organ doubling at the end. (I wish I could double my organ. Ha.)
6: Foodstool 82
GREAT acoustic sound. (Again) So nice to have a prog (yuchy
word but sorry) sounding acoustic guitar sound like a... you know... ACOUSTIC
GUITAR. Great blend of electric and acoustic. Fuck the rhythm section. Seriously.
This is just lovely.
GREAT LAST CHORD. There's my b-bender!
