Music Reviews

The Third Eye Foundation

You Guys Kill Me

Merge

Will you shut the window? The sound of cats mating is interfering with my enjoyment of the new Third Eye Foundation record. Oh. That is the record?

“A Galaxy of Scars” sets the pace, with its tropical bossa-nova beat, accompanied by tone drones that don’t seem to be too steady on their pitch. And so it goes, as the Third Eye Foundation doesn’t seem to take their chosen genre (the one full of automation and digital technology) as seriously or traditionally as the purists would like. The aforementioned cats litter (heh!) the foreground in “For All The Brothers and Sisters,” a song that would otherwise be considered very dark and menacing. Similar effects “ruin” other tracks that might be further categorized in other genres.

If there’s one thing consistent on You Guys Kill Me, it’s the band’s approach to beat and melody. The rhythms used are superb, ranging from traditional styles to loops so frenetic they sound like a crate of maracas spilled down a gravel driveway. Over this are layered unsteady melodies, wavering in pitch like sound effects for seasickness. As you might have inferred from these similes, you’ll either hate this or love it. And so will your friends… Merge Records, Box 1235, Chapel Hill, NC 27514; http://www.mrg2000.com


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