Description:
Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Many of these songs begin with the simple scrape of an acoustic guitar or solo piano, but they work their magic over slow-motion time, building to majestic choruses that fade again just as quickly. Singer Jim Putnam has the constricted nasal delivery of Neil Young, and the musical reference points range from early-'70s Pink Floyd to the sadcore sound of Red House Painters. However sweet the melodies, there's always an undercurrent of melancholy that Putnam can't, and patient listeners won't want to, shake. --Keith Moerer
It's uncanny the way that the Radar Bros. have drawn their sound from early-'70
Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Many of these songs begin with the simple scrape of an acoustic guitar or solo piano, but they work their magic over slow-motion time, building to majestic choruses that fade again just as quickly. Singer Jim Putnam has the constricted nasal delivery of Neil Young, and the musical reference points range from early-'70s Pink Floyd to the sadcore sound of Red House Painters. However sweet the melodies, there's always an undercurrent of melancholy that Putnam can't, and patient listeners won't want to, shake. --Keith Moerer
It's uncanny the way that the Radar Bros. have drawn their sound from early-'70s Pink Floyd albums like Obscured by Clouds and Meddle. And not so much those entire albums, but specific songs from them. The Singing Hatchet sounds like 12 different takes on those back-porch acoustic guitar and piano-laced plodders that dotted the aforementioned releases and were a transition between Floyd's wiggy, acid-drenched, late-'60s lunacy and their high-production epics of the mid- to late '70s. The Radar Bros. have used these songs as an archetype to craft their claustrophobic, laconic, and minor-chord-filled laments. Most of the vocals are double tracked with Pink Floyd-like harmonies and the album's production seemingly places them directly inside your skull. Tunes range from grandiose and somewhat orchestrated to downright depressing. They lope and shuffle like a rheumy mule--with downturned ears, bloodshot eyes, and all--maintaining a constant state of antimomentum that is profoundly mesmerizing. Comfortably numb? You bet. The Singing Hatchet ambles and meanders through the ether like a feverish yet somehow pleasant dream, occasionally stumbling into a nifty chorus every now and then, but mostly just humming a nice tune along the way. --Adem Tepedelen
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Manufacturer: Seethru Broadcasting
Release date: 12 October 1999
EAN: 0658457200223 UPC: 658457200223
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