Track Listing

1. Vibrational Match
2. Grapefruit
3. Every Single Line Means Something
4. Precious Metal
5. Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!!!
6. Logical Volume
7. Absorb Those Numbers
8. This American Life
9. Letters from Rimbaud
10. Weight of a Rock
11. Plato's Fucked Up Cave
12. Healer
13. Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88041 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Prepare to be destroyed
This album hit me like a Loony Tunes anvil from the sky. I got flattened by the melismatic shredding; the geometric ethereal vocals; the noise mastery; the 70s thick-bellied sci-fi hooks; the far-sighted lyrics.

And then we saw her show. Mother. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. Stern's fingers dance, my friends, while she smiles at you. Zach Hill - just furious, insane. And guitarist Robby Moncrieff is a treasure; he and Stern wove big magic for the ending of This American Life (probably my favorite). Left me breathless.

We shared a cigarette with Her Greatness before the show - what a sweetie. Nothing like what I've heard of New Yorkers. Kidding, kidding! (shout out to Fig Newton!)

Marnie Stern's record here helped restore faith in my generation. Thought we'd all grown up and forgot to rawk out, no prisoners, no visionless angst. I haven't enough arms to pump all the heavy metal salutes this inspires.

Creative
Marnie Stern is a woman playing horribly detailed guitar shreddery. Actually, a gorgeous woman.

Moving past that, this is the kind of creativity of which music needs as much as it can get. I read that Marnie basically controls everything herself through to production (excepting drums, which are owed to the genius of Zach Hill). Well, that's pretty much what it sounds like: one person overflowing with interesting musical ideas gives us a peek into her brain. As soon as the disc starts she's yelling about being a "vibrational match", and then the finger-tapping and pitch-shifting begin.

This record suffers a little in the same way many solo artists do: a little bit unfocused or obtuse; maybe some of it could have been cut and refined a little more if more people had been part of the process. But then on the other hand I would infinitely prefer this to something that might get watered down. That's why I still give it five stars.

That and the incredible playing. I mean, Zach Hill (the drummer) has played with Spencer Seim in Hella for years and this stuff is on par. She multi-tracks parts and uses effects and her voice. It's immersive.

That and the inventiveness of it all. Listening to this is like reading a good book of poetry. Not every poem is perfect but you feel a relationship to the poet.

And then there's the sex appeal.

What a Sound!
After hearing on radio just once a track from this album, I found it in Amazon and straight away ordered. After waiting impatiently for it arrive it finally came. It's been top of my play-list since.
Marnie, what a gentle name for such an amazingly fierce guitar player. Not only can she play fantastically, she sings great lyrics at the same time. Every track sounds live (and dangerous). Marnie Stern brings rock guitar at great speed into the new millenium, both hands on the fret-board! If she ever tours here I'll be in the front row!