Capillary Action - So Embarrassing
Thursday, October 2, 2008
http://www.myspace.com/capillaryaction
For starters I just want to say that THIS IS RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!! Oh how the excitement churns inside me when I hear this music. From the first few seconds of my first listen of the first song, I knew this album was going to be special. I've since listened to it almost daily since I received a copy. As well I have been telling anyone I know that can stand to listen to a billion notes and twists and turns and jolts and general mind bending awesomeness, to check this band out. Jonathan, please forgive me but I might have illegally distributed your album to some of my friends...
So Embarrassing is extremely thought out and executed with precision. We experience elements of several styles of jazz including avant, big band, smooth, straight ahead, etc. As well we are taken through a listening journey of pop, metal, freak out, indie, rock and roll...pretty much if there is a 'genre' out there, its covered on this album. At this point in my career as a musician and a listener, I need maximum stimulation to really get exited, and this album just dominates my senses.
Every musician participating on this album is very talented. Jonathan's guitar work and jazzy vocals are right on point. The drums are all over the place, super clean, and always a perfect match for the particular section of music. The tones from the keys are great and the playing is very high level. The horns and strings add amazing depth and thickness to the music without sounding muddy. Its as if Jonathan wrote and critiqued every second of every song to include just enough of every instrument.
Some of my favorite parts of the album would be the heavy breakdown in the middle of Bloody Nose. I listen to a lot of 'metal' and am pretty much sick of 'breakdowns', but to hear them go from a smooth pop sound into grinding heavy metal just does it for me.
The vocal percussion on Badlands gave me chills the first time through. The song starts of very soft and then you'll hear no more words, just rhythmic breathing with some bright percussion behind it. By the end, the drummer is going off, Jonathan is killing it with the vocal percussion, and its the best example of 'fight music' on the album. It really gets my blood flowing.
Self-Released, probably my personal favorite track, has a buildup at the end that can not be topped. The words "you will always be, self released" are repeated over and over, all the while instruments start to float in under the vocals, and everyone participating is slowly bringing their volume up, uP, UP, UP!!! By the end, the speakers in my car are about to explode along with my ear drums, finished off with the touch of a triangle to sooth my mind.
I found Capillary Action by accident on Myspace, showed it to my friends, and one of them contacted Jonathan about O Team doing a review. Because of that I have been blessed with one of my favorite albums of all time. Even after having been through the album many times over several months, I still feel new to this music. Every time I go through it I hear something I had not heard before complimenting some piece of the music I've become very familiar with. This is the kind of music the future holds for those of us that have grown up in the world of A.D.D. and need this audible medication to sooth our pain.
Labels: AlbumReviews
posted by Conqueror @ 10:00 AM,
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