Big Orange Crayonmusical thingsLife Without Buildings Any Other City DC/Baltimore 2012 Records If you've been keeping up with this page lately, you've probably noticed that I haven't been writing record reviews. I mean, the last one I wrote was in July. There are a couple of reasons for this, but I went over all of them in the last review I wrote, so I won't bore you with them. The main point is that I'm basically only reviewing the records that really, completely blow me away now. So I'm reviewing this record by Life Without Buildings. Since I've had my radio show, I've probably played this CD more than any other record besides the Secret Stars LPs. For about a few weeks after it showed up in the mail, it was almost all I listened to. It strikes an almost-impossible balance between fun and brilliance so perfectly that I can't think of another album that I've heard that could compare to it. Sue Tompkins' lyrics are manic, cyclical poetry, and I've found the music reminding me of everything from Karate to Dressy Bessy, so I won't make a blanket genre classification because there isn't one that makes sense. "PS Exclusive" kicks off the album with a frenzied indie pop burst and Sue proceeds to shout the phrase "the right stuff" countless times to a very strange effect. My favorite track on the disc is "Let's Go Out", which reminds me of what goes on inside of a daydreaming children's book character's head. Random shouts and exclamations are peppered throughout the album, which adds a strange chaos to it and for some reason draws me in further. It's not all just the noises though, the lyrics are significantly better than what I've heard lately. In the absolutely beautiful second-to-last track, "Sorrow" there's this line that goes Eyes like lotus leavesJust stare at it for a little while (she repeats it enough that you get the same effect in the song). That's why you should listen. Total score: 811 out of 811 |