Woah, close to reaching the third page! No, not acceptable at all.
Album: Untying the Not
Artist: The String Cheese Incident
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia
Suggested by: DwnWthVwls
Familiarity: None.
1. Wake Up - Missed a chance for an epic bass line there, but I see what you're going for. What would you get if you smooth jazz'd up psychedelic rock? This. Interesting opener. Definitely good music though. SEA GREEN
2. Sirens - Starts out as a blues-y track, and the chorus is a bit more like ska folk in a weird way? Very strange song. The writing is absolutely great, though. Very interesting. Really enjoying this now. ROYAL BLUE
3. Looking Glass - Another great sort of blues-y song. Lots of prog influences here obviously. Some very cool effects are implemented at the end. Really loving this. ROYAL BLUE
4. Orion's Belt - Instrumental jazz track. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less. SEA GREEN
5. Mountain Girl - Some spoken word over top of a jazz-inspired backing track. Still good. SEA GREEN
6. Lonesome Road Blues - Short track that's sort of hard to rate, so I'll just give it a green. SEA GREEN
7. Elijah - Some great strings and piano coordination here. Yeah, really great little instrumental. ROYAL BLUE
8. Valley of the Jig - Sounds like dance jig. And I mean, like EDM. Alright, jig remix, great job. For what it is, it's good, but what it is is pretty preposterous. Got me moving. SEA GREEN
9. Tinder Box - Very prog lyrics throughout the album. In this one, they are very audible. This song reminds me a bit of Days of the New. It's that same alt-inspired acoustic stuff that popularized the other band. Some great beat poetry stuff from the female vocalist. I could really see myself coming back to this album just for this song. Best so far. ROYAL BLUE
10. Just Passin' Through - Slippery effects sliding in and out at the start. Marillion-like in nature, with some indian inspiration as well. Troll would really appreciate this album. Slow and quiet, it seems. A bit too new age for my tastes, but I'm sure there are those who would love this song a whole lot. SEA GREEN
11. Who Am I? - Can we have Beatles inspiration please? The album is ready to deliver on that. Still a bit Marillion-like, but the Beatles shine through in the strings, guitars, keys, and bass. Excellent harmonies in the vocals as well. Wonderful. ROYAL BLUE
12. Time Alive - A bit of a prog feel here, again. I must say this song would have been a green without the guitar solo at the end. That sort of made the rest of the song complete, if you catch my drift. Whatever, this is a really, really great album IMO. ROYAL BLUE
13. On My Way - Synths and repetitive vocals until the end, where a simple synth line leads out. Not as engaging as the rest, but it's not bad either. SEA GREEN
Definitely not the garage rock inspired neo-psych most bands cultivate, this is an absolute masterpiece. The band captures that '80s prog feel, while simultaneously injecting their own original flavor into it. This is an album that anyone can get something out of, if only one little bit of it. Doesn't matter what your tastes are, you can definitely enjoy this one. Personally, I've found a new favorite.
OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10