Disc 11. Equally Damaged 2. In Particular 3. Melody of Certain Three 4. Hated Because of Great Qualities 5. Loved Despite of Great Faults 6. Ballad of Lemons 7. This Is Not 8. Cure, A 9. For the Damaged 10. Mother 11. (Untitled) - (hidden track)
Label: Touch & Go
Release Date: 06/06/2000
Original Release Date: 2000
Recording Mode: Stereo
Producer: Guy Picciotto; Ryan Hadlock
Engineer: Ryan Hadlock
Recording Type: Studio
Distributor: Alternative Dis. Alliance
Blonde Redhead: Simone Pace, Kazu Makino, Amedeo Pace.
Additional personnel: Toby Christensen (piano).
Recorded at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington between January 25, 2000 to February 16, 2000.
No track on this trio's fifth album follows, directly or logically, the shape or style of the track preceding it. And that's ok, as Blonde Redhead's modus operandi is to produce a head-spinning musical melange, amassed from a multiplicity of sources, that will leave you and your ears dazed but happy.
True to form, the band launches into an ethereal, Stereolab-influenced "In Particular" after the opening mini-track's sonic blast. There is an initial kitchen-sink, frenetic similarity between Blonde Redhead and Solex, though the former is the more verbal, softer of the two. This similarity is shattered, however, by "Loved Despite of Great Faults," a measured, modest ballad with just a touch of Brian Wilson's wistfulness to its late-Beatles-meet-the-Kinks patina. Throughout it all, Kazu Makino and Amedeo Pace trade off sweet and captivating vocals, breathing life into subtly compelling lyrics.
Spin (8/00, p.149) - 8 out of 10 - "...[They] have stumbled onto something pretty damn deep....a loose-limbed sound-unit - swelling, melodramatic, unrequited....delving into lo-fi keyboard textures, jazzy drumming and studio manipulation..."
Magnet (1-2/01, p.44) - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000".
Magnet (8-9/00, p.69) - "...Entering their prime and bursting with self-confidence, [they] pull it off without missing a beat."
The Wire (5/00, p.46) - "...Broadens their range of expression further...in favor of an incipient melodicism....an adventurous departure."
CMJ (6/5/00, p.24) - "...BR uses their influences [no-wave band DNA and Sonic Youth] effectively, while incorporating some odd progressive elements and a lot of minor chords."
Mojo (Publisher) (7/00, p.104) - "...Thrusts the band into a complex landscape of electro beats, trash drumming and Satie-like piano motif. Their sound has finally caught up with their eclectic backgrounds...bouncing the proto-New Wave of 'In Particular' to the angular 'Ballad Of Lemons'..."
NME (Magazine) (5/20/00, p.43) - 8 out of 10 - "...Remarkable....It's as though all the contrariness of [their] angular past has dissolved into a fascination with pop, '60s soundtracks and naked piano ballads...without sacrificing any of the heart-stopping dynamics or confessional psychodramas..."
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