Track Listing

1. Muscle'n Flo
2. The Pelican
3. Wet And Rusting
4. Air Aid
5. Weird
6. Rotten Hell
7. Running
8. My My
9. Boyscout'n
10. Evil Bee
11. Ghostship
12. West

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34620 in Music
• Released on: 2007-01-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
On their third album, Portland, Oregon's Menomena (remember Sesame Street and the Piero Umaliani song, "Mah Na Mah Na"?) sound like Spoon on the brink of outer space with Mercury Rev riding in their rocketship. They write collectively, using software they scripted to assemble songs from their own click-tracks and melody snippets--and then re-learn as new, full-bodied entities. The cumulative effect is often collage-like, with piano and scratchy guitar and drums (and an occasional saxophone) dropping in and out as songs clamber forward, fueled by manic creative immediacy. They know how to throw down, too, thick guitars powering "The Pelican" but never overpowering the unlikely melodicism and irresistible lyricism of a fragile beauty like "Rotten Hell." --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description
This fractured post-punk, post-hip-hop, post-pop album is the much-anticipated follow-up to their debut, "I Am The Fun Blame Monster".

Customer Reviews

Big Sound - Complicated & Interesting
As a lover of musical innovation and interesting technology this seemed a beautiful integration of software (similar to 'automix' but apparently much more complex & designed by them) and too many ideas. A beauty in the physical sense too... the CD packaging is very intricate and impressive... cut-outs and colors in secret windows that intrigue.
Musically for fans of The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev or perhaps The Earlies. Big clattering (sometimes startling!) drum sound, perfect piano parts, unexpected saxophones, strange group singing (think 'Clap your Hands say Yeah' or 'TV on the Radio') a million ideas, many stylistic / tempo changes within each song (has the song finished?) - but it all flows and makes sense on repeated plays - must admit I wasn't sure after the first listen... but aren't they sometimes eventually the best?

Good Listen
I heard this Band on Sirius Left of Center. The song Wet and Rusting was as close to perfect as I can imagine. I checked out their site at Barsuk records and it had a sample of the CD. It was all pretty good so I picked it up to check out the rest. I wasn't dissapointed. I'd recommend it to anyone that is in to experimental, indie music.

Did not work for me
I've listened to this CD at least five times now and it just isn't sticking. I understand what they are trying to do, but it did not work for me. It just feels awkward. I am fine with music being somewhat experimental, but there still needs to be some sort of flow to the end product and if anything, this feels artificial, forced, and choppy. It doesn't have to be this way. Albums like All Hour Cymbals and Person Pitch demonstrate that modern music can be experimental, unique, and have a fantastic flow to them. I recommend that they spend less time on the computer and more time jamming.

It isn't like I hate the album, but there isn't anything that brings me back to it either. The lyrics are inconsequential and I don't recall anything memorable about the tunes. That leaves the sonics and, well, it just isn't enough.

One cool thing about this CD is the cover artwork, the best I have seen in a few years. There are physical holes in the paper, allowing you to rotate or fold the insert differently revealing changes in the visual. For that itself, I am glad I purchased the physical CD, even though the music disappointed.