Big Orange Crayonmusical thingsJe Suis France Je Suis France Pitch-A-Tent What an enigmatic CD! The booklet led me to believe that it was going to be wanky, conceited art-rock (The liner notes begin with "An old African folk tale recollects the mythical battle in the lake of godvomitfire between the Lion and the Zebra..."), but when I actually played it, it was enjoyable poppy indie rock. I guess mock pretension confuses me. That's ok, though. Je Suis France, which resident French translator Ariel told me means "I am France", begins the cd with an instrumental song, but one that adheres quite tightly to normal pop song structure, just without words. The rest of the album is about 70/30 tracks with vocals/tracks without, but it all blends in nicely together. It reminds me alternately of There's Nothing Wrong With Love-era Built to Spill, only way more chaotic and southern-tinged, the Pixies, and earlier Kindercore bands. But don't take the fact that I'm comparing them exclusively to old things to mean that they're retro or anything, it's just that they have that classic college music feel to them. Both "Forklift Rodeo" and "I can't believe it, I can fly!" are great, good-old fashion, poppy rawk out songs that you can shout/sing along to. I say go for it, and if you understand what's going on in the packaging, do tell. Total score: 319 out of 337 |