Welcome to Check Your Mode

The all-inclusive, ever-changing, and uncomfortably flexible guide to all things music in the 2010's.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Eels - Tomorrow Morning: B+



Come on, really? That gravelly voice, that dry humor, those cheesy pseudo hip-hop beats? I mean sure it sounds like Peter Gabriel's recent output and Spoon at times, but are we absolutely sure this isn't a Beck album? I mean, I don't know much about either Beck or Eels, but are we absolutely sure the latter isn't a side project of the former acted through some elaborate disguise? There's a song called "Spectacular Girl" for crying out loud, and I'm pretty sure Beck has a song called "Girl", too. Come on, the evidence is obvious and I refuse to believe that an artist would cop someone else's style so brazenly without them being the actual person, themselves. Regardless, it's still pretty good stuff.

Share/Bookmark

The Body - All The Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood: C+



There is a certain point where even I can't appreciate an album for being so ridiculously far off the radar. Not many albums have had this effect on me, but you are reading my review of one that has, and I can't really shove my head far enough up my ass or pretensify myself enough to pretend that I can find a single redeeming quality in this album worth noting.


But hey, maybe it's just me. Maybe you like being screamed at for long periods of time over nonsensical guitar nothingness. Then, hey, fuck me, right? I'm the fool.


But yeah, right around the final song, when you realize that this album is just the repetition of one maddeningly dense formula or perhaps the third track, when you realize that those random incantations are just a foil for more screaming and droning guitars, I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but this is just mush. And to think they tricked me into it with such a beautiful choral arrangement at its beginning.

Share/Bookmark