| CD REVIEW The Sound Of Animals Fighting |
 |
|
Band : The Sound Of Animals Fighting This Los Angeles based act is simply surrounded by anonimity. Not to "protect" the four core members [who go masked and by the names of The Lynx (drums), The Nightingale (vocals), The Skunk (vocals), and The Walrus (guitar, bass, vocals)] but to force the listener into concentrating on the music. "Core members", because what you hear on their albums (starting with 2005's Tiger And The Duke, this is their third) is the work of a collective, the masked four inviting both up-and-coming and established guest musicians/ singers from all over the USA and from all walks of the musical spectrum to add to the freaky end result. To explain to you what this band sounds like would really take me too long, as it would mean dissecting each and every song separately. What I wíll tell you though, is that the band dabbles in Hip Hop, Ambient, Hardcore, Freaky Pop, Jazz, Progressive...and the list goes on really, it all seems to depend on whom they come accross in their collaborations. Vocally, you'll hear spoken word parts declamated on top of singing, sultry and moaning female vocals, moody yet clean male singing, and what have you more (because in the more enegetic passages both male and female(s?) tend to scream some as well). Best you hurry on down to myspace.com/thesoundofanimalsfighting, where the band posted their complete album for the fans to pre-listen prior to going out and buy the album. That's all I have to communicate to you at this moment, and if you'll excuse me, I'm now running off to the record store to see whether I can still get me a copy of the band's previous albums...heck, although a promo copy of this is already mine, I even intend to get me a retail version (which should already be in store by now, due to the fact that I've had an incredible back-stock of reviews to do – record companies are goin' beserk about getting stuff out in September) of this latest outing. Hopefully it's got a nice booklet and more explanations as well. If it does, you'll get a PS on this review. For now, classify as ranking on top of a separate category in my "Best Albums Of 2008"-list! 98/100 P.S.: Yes, me pretties, the record store DID have the CD already (good folks that, and with a nose for truly excellent music, see!?), so here's me filling in the data on the guest musicians. One Mark Bush plays the trumpet, one Newsha Mohajeri adds Farsi keyboard sounds. Doing assorted "kid" vocals are Adrian, Elaina, and Victoria Benson, singing and bringing poken words is Lauren Coleman, more spoken words (on the song "Ahab") is CharleneRogers, more female singing comes courtesy of Jessica McWhirter, and a French poem comes by Edouard Wlodarczyk. Also, there's a possible addition of a new member to the core band with The Wolf, who made his introduction on the album's closing track "On The Occasion Of Wet Snow". The album I bought, by the way, came in digipak form and only cost me a mere 12 ½ Euros...which is a steal these days! Tony. |