"It's definitely a fresh start," Brad gushes. "We didn't close a chapter on the last 10 years, but it's definitely a new chapter. It's the same book, it's not even a chapter, it's when a book has a different section. It's a big change. We'll probably have three of these in our career book. This is the second one."
"It's definitely a fresh start," Brad gushes. "We didn't close a chapter on the last 10 years, but it's definitely a new chapter. It's the same book, it's not even a chapter, it's when a book has a different section. It's a big change. We'll probably have three of these in our career book. This is the second one."
that article is ridiculous. i hate how shoe gazer fans are so smug toward jambands. we've got a smug alert over here!
Ugh, that article really gets me itching. Super smug. There is some truth to the notion that many jambands are high on wank and low on substance (can anyone say Umphrey's?) but that article writer is way too full of himself and his little indie hippie-hating train. He obviously has never seen a Slip show.
I just got done listening to EISENHOWER in whole. I loved it! I think 'If one of us' will become a smash radio hit if it's played enough on radio airwaves. Also I love 'the original blue air'. 'mothwing bite' is a silly little diddy ;} I still like it for that. I ill have more later. Take care ALL.
Jam band the Slip chose their 2006 release Eisenhower to show that they're capable of stepping outside the boundaries of hippie-hash college music, and maybe they shouldn't have. The disc shows the band cunningly embracing alt pop conventions almost completely one moment, and becoming lost in a quagmire of their own wanderings the next. A few tracks, like "Even Rats," leave the Slip's roots behind altogether and embrace an indie rock sound almost completely -- and with great success. A handful of others plod headlong into the group's jamming past, like the eight-minute opus "Paper Birds," a rambling monument of improvisation with barely a discernible refrain. Most of the songs on the album are built on a musical idea of melding these two genres. The group does not always achieve this hybridization very gracefully, as on "Suffocation Keep," where a perfectly nice, spacy ballad gets stretched into mopey, sad-bastard music. The formula works on the majority of the songs, however, where the jamming style brings something distinctly nonlinear to the traditional pop song format, creating something delightfully unconventional and unique. The tone of these tracks avoids silliness or kitsch -- even when singer Brad Barr careens into flying falsetto -- but it never really feels serious or self-important, either. This brand of laid-back, often danceable rock holds steady at a level of emotion that never steps within ten feet of emo; the music's expressiveness, though far from cold, lies in an intimate and cerebral space rather than a cathartic one. This sound shares a stage with everybody from Phoenix and Under the Influence of Giants to Coldplay and My Bloody Valentine. The Slip's experiment in absorbing these poppy influences is basically a success, at best providing a pensive, emotive soundtrack to a quiet day and at worst, making you want to listen to Phoenix or Coldplay.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
it's too bad the writer seems confused. the review started on quite a few negative notes, but abruptly turned positive. get your thoughts straight mister/miss!
I don't find this so far-fetched, and feel this review is awesomely written and one of the most glowing endorsements since Sam G's missive in the HuffPo. It is obvious from the article that this writer genuinely and attentively listened to Eisenhower (many times). His comparisons have merit, and to be put on a shelf next to Wilco, MMJ and Spoon really won't hurt the album whatsoever.
What about Beetle to the Badlands? That alt-country enough for y'all?
i transcribed the review of ike as featured in the '50 words os less' review section of the winter issue of under the radar,
The Slip cover a lot of ground over these eleven songs, but the underlying connectionis infectious, hook-laden pop. "Children of December" starts the album with catchy guitar and vocal melody interplay and a Transformers reference. "The Original Blue Air" and "First Panda in Space" are my favorites with the post-rock vibe and busy drumming, but they are also the least cohesive in regards to the whole album.
