@ghosthouse Thanks for taking time to give it a listen.
@lowrider57 Glad you gave it go.
So, what I hear...the future (I think). Kraus is a one man show, who I believe is channeling Eno for his generation. I agree with @ghosthouse that MBV and Slowdive are more melodic--I believe that was an extension of where "rock" was at the time. Now, I think the teen and 20-something crowd doesn't think life is a melody with a bit of distortion--it is instead chaos with the hint of melody maybe down under all the noise.
I ran the album by my college aged kids, who are classically musically trained on piano (still playing thank goodness) to get their take. And they really like it. I think this may be where us old people fall off the ride. I generally like the album, but it felt to me like the first pass was a test--was I willing to listen to what was underneath it? I admit that when I first heard Wilco crank the distortion and noise on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I wasn't surprised because I owned other Wilco albums and you could kind of predict it was coming. But, this album? I think for our age group it may feel like it is too much hash; for younger folks, who yawn at Rage Against the Machine and embrace "screamo", the hash has its own musical value.
In essence, I think it is meant to be ambient and this is today's ambient mood. And in that way, I think it is worth noting. The kid knows what he is doing--and he is doing it alone--the voice is his voice and he is speaking in a way his peers may understand. I don't claim that I fully do.
But, almost every kind of music makes its way into my ears.
I hope this helps explain my reaction to it.
Peace
Al
@lowrider57 Glad you gave it go.
So, what I hear...the future (I think). Kraus is a one man show, who I believe is channeling Eno for his generation. I agree with @ghosthouse that MBV and Slowdive are more melodic--I believe that was an extension of where "rock" was at the time. Now, I think the teen and 20-something crowd doesn't think life is a melody with a bit of distortion--it is instead chaos with the hint of melody maybe down under all the noise.
I ran the album by my college aged kids, who are classically musically trained on piano (still playing thank goodness) to get their take. And they really like it. I think this may be where us old people fall off the ride. I generally like the album, but it felt to me like the first pass was a test--was I willing to listen to what was underneath it? I admit that when I first heard Wilco crank the distortion and noise on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I wasn't surprised because I owned other Wilco albums and you could kind of predict it was coming. But, this album? I think for our age group it may feel like it is too much hash; for younger folks, who yawn at Rage Against the Machine and embrace "screamo", the hash has its own musical value.
In essence, I think it is meant to be ambient and this is today's ambient mood. And in that way, I think it is worth noting. The kid knows what he is doing--and he is doing it alone--the voice is his voice and he is speaking in a way his peers may understand. I don't claim that I fully do.
But, almost every kind of music makes its way into my ears.
I hope this helps explain my reaction to it.
Peace
Al