Rating:
Genre:
Electronica
Release Date: 02/20/2007
Like 2003's
Fantomes,
Monsters & Silly Songs is a sprawling, whimsical album, and its singles are the clear-cut highlights, surrounded by experiments that engage as frequently as they leave no lasting impression. Though it trails
Fantomes by nearly four years, it's surprising it came out as early as it did.
Joakim had 90-percent of an album recorded when his hard drive crashed, taking all the existing material with it. (A justifiably irate post on his MySpace blog, dated February 1, 2006, stated, "Well, maybe I'll be done in 2010.") He reacted by forming
the Ectoplasmic Band with bassist
Juan De Guillebon, guitarist
Maxine Delpierre, and drummer
Mark Kerr. He made several tracks with them (as a guitarist, keyboardist, and sound manipulator), a couple with other collaborators, and a few by himself. Beyond the tracks that have been released on 12" -- including
"Drumtrax," a delirious ring-modulator workout, and
"I Wish You Were Gone," an embittered but irresistible
dance-
punk blast that rivals anything from the
DFA label -- the standouts tend to be the tracks that most resemble songs, rather than the wildcard instrumentals and other forms of playful futzing around. The true opener, the pulsating
"Sleep in Hollow Tree," sets the waggish tone, resembling what
the Stranglers might sound like if they had to play children's rumpus rooms instead of pubs filled with drunken louts: while on some imaginary war path, multi-tracked voices drone "I went through a thousand seas/Had fight with giant bees/And sleep in hollow trees."
"Lonely Hearts," another number with thick
post-punk/
new wave streaks, is magnetically melancholy, while
"Rocket Pearl" paws at the ground for a minute before turning into a gnashing rumble. With the energy level so high through several tracks, the less frantic moments -- such as the tranquil
"Peter Pan Over the Bronx," a sparse piano-and-wriggle-effects piece that could pass for something off the
Sky label -- are bound to test the patience.
~Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
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