Friday, October 09, 2009

Klamath - Review

Yep, I got my copy of Klamath from Mark at his Brighton show last night and have given it a couple of listens. What's it like, you are all wondering? Well, I have played it a couple of times and here are my initial impressions.

Stylistically it builds on albums like the "Invisible Man" and "Candy Ass" however it benefits from a couple of guest appearances and a much better use of Pro-Tools (or whatever it was recorded with). It is essentially an album of nine songs (bracketed by a nicely atmospheric intro and outro) and what should be a hidden bonus track at the end. I think at least one or two of the tracks are from the forthcoming musical "Marine Parade". The songs have the familiar rhythm track sounds from those albums but it is a lot more organic sounding these days. There are a couple of guitar numbers on there but there are just as many synthy ones.

Standout tracks are
The blood on my hands. Interesting one as it sounds like it is sung from a females perspective.
I miss you. Another Kathleen song?
I live in this place. One of the songs from the musical and about a prostitute looking back at their life.
Why I am bullshit. Typical Mark title. A song sung to someone he may have let down. A few San Francisco and religious images thrown in for good measure.
Remember. A nice slow one.
Ronald koal was a rock star. The token upbeat rocker all about his meeting with the singer(?) Ronald koal years ago.
Buried Treasure and Antennas. These are the moody instrumental intro and outro. They work quite well and don't break up the flow of the album.

Guest appearances are by Marc Capelle, Franz Nicolay and Dave Douglas (not the trumpeter).

All in all, a good little album.

5 comments:

gjvnyc said...

man, I am shocked by the indifference to The White Of Gold. This song, after a few listens especially, is epic and stunning. In fact, the string of songs from and including "I miss you" through "I live In this Place" is one of Mark's strongest sequence of songs. If you have only given the album a cursory listen, or have been turned off by fan's reviews, you should really give the album a(nother) shot. So worth the time.

Vincent (Paris) said...

Hello. I just got my copy of the album, so I won't comment on it. However, I have a technical question about the first track. There is something very weird going on on my copy of the album, between 1:45 and 2:00, on this track, as if it had been badly recorded or pressed. It's not distorsion ; something more like static. Is it like that on your copy as well, or is it just me/mine? Thank you in advance for your answer

gjvnyc said...

hey vincent: it is the same on mine. it sounds like digital noise, and i'm pretty sure it was intentional :)

ShaunP said...

Yeah, I think that's all part of the instrumental intro. The nice melody disappearing into a haze of static and distortion.

Vincent (Paris) said...

Thanks for your answers. Mark confirmed that to me on Facebook in the meantime.