Reviews
Raccoo-oo-oon
Is Night People
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2007-01-29
Lately I've been reviewing my fair share of instrumental CDs -- or, put accurately, albums where bands focus more on music than lyrics. That's definitely my cup of tea -- I like a good instrumental track.
Enter Raccoo-oo-oon's debut album called Is Night People. You want audacious instruments? Got'em. How bout weird, off-key singing and sauntering guitars, saxophones, drums and keyboards. Hey! They've got that too. Song structure? Nah, forget that -- free form is better.
That, in a nutshell is Raccoo-oo-oon. Iowa City must have an interesting concert circuit, if these guys are a regular staple.
Give credit to Raccoo-oo-oon -- not only have they come up with one of the more difficult names to type, but the band has released one of the most difficult CDs I've had the (dis)pleasure of listening to this year.
Is Night People is the kind of album that I would dub 'noise' -- not because it's unlistenable. But because there's no melody or harmony buried anywhere in this album. "March of the Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails is a harmonious masterpiece compared to this.
Consider the album's opening track -- aptly named "Brain Loot." I jotted down the following words while listening, printed here for your enjoyment: "Random instruments," warbling noise," "screeching animals sounds in background."
This really threw me for a loop. I expected something weird -- I'd been warned -- but... this isn't so weird. It more falls into the 'stupid' and 'unlistenable' category. Still, I'm going to credit originality. Not many bands would put a tune like this as their first track. They've gotta be leading up to something.
And yes! I hear it, the anticipation of listening to something good. Track 2, called "Uh-Oh," almost has a structure to it -- it's almost melodic. It almost sounds like something I would enjoy.
Almost. Yet this represents the height of Is Night People. True, the album's final track -- The Great Horn of the North -- has its moments, but it's mainly all downhill.
The problem, of course, is that nothing here really stands out.I heard the other day that music isn't about lyrics or tone -- it's about ideas. Well, if that's the case, I think Raccoo-oo-oon have the wrong idea and in communicating their thoughts to us, they're either showing a slight bout of insanity.
Or genius. There's a fine line, though.
Here, I would like to comment on the vocals - I can't understand them. Plain and simple, eh? The band's name draws a deliberate comparison to a raccoon. This isn't by accident. They try their damnedest to sound like a pack of crazy, wild animals. Howling, screaming. Again, what an interesting live performance this must be.
Experimentalism abounds here and I applaud that sense of creativity. But it has to gel, coalese into something solid that deserves repeated listens.
I don't think I could listen to Is Night People repeated. It's too boring. Strange, that a group which I describe as 'experimental,' 'weird' and 'original' could also have mundane and uninteresting attached to their name.
In a way, I equate albums like this to an 'indie music mine shaft.' We all go digging for diamonds and gold, but more often than not we come back with zircons and fool's good.
I, for one, am going back down that mineshaft. And on the way, I'm going to return Is Night People where it belongs: buried deep in the earth.
Score: 4.7
- Kyle Rea