June 18, 2004 | Posted by mark at 07:30 PM

Together, One

Badly Drawn Boy - Year of the Rat. There is a new Badly Drawn Boy album about to come out. Frankly, I don't know if I even care. I definitely used to be a fan, and I adore his first album. I even like several of the tracks off the About A Boy soundtrack. I will even admit to having a 7" or two, including one that has him riffing on "Don't Stop Believing" on the piano. However, that last ablum of his wasn't that hot at all. In concert he's hit or miss. Though, in Boston two falls ago he was excellent, playing just about everything in his catalogue, which was nice.

There are some good timpani hits and gong crashes, as well as some great bell work. Somehow they escape sounding too epic, which is nice. Even with a children's chorus coming in at the end. Maybe it's because they slur their esses into eshes.
And the new album? It sounds a little less poppy and pompous than his last one, and sounds more retreated. Maybe this is because he didn't record it during a hot winter in Los Angeles. Anyway, check out the song. It's pleasant enough, with some droning string intro very reminiscent of the first album. It's not going to make me rush out and buy the album, but it's definitely worth a listen.*

Comments

Check, check... is this thing on? Man it's quiet in here.
Gee, post a BDB track and everyone goes away.

Posted by: chrisp at June 21, 2004 04:57 AM

Hmm, thought I posted a comment, but it seems it didn't work. Anyways, I was just going to say I like this song, but his website is ridiculously stupid/difficult to navigate. And there is one A++ song on "Have You Fed The Fish". I think it's called "How?" and it's just amazing with swelling strings and stampeding guitars. In retrospect, I would still buy the album if only for that one song.

Posted by: caley at June 21, 2004 01:52 PM

What does the asterisk signify?

Posted by: Kevin at June 21, 2004 01:57 PM

Oh, the "*" -- I forgot. I was going to go into a little speech about how some people don't like it when mp3 bloggers post mediocre songs, but I didn't feel like going into it. I just forgot to take out the asterisk at the end. My b.

Posted by: robot mark at June 21, 2004 02:07 PM
Post a comment















Remember personal info?

Human verification:

To help eliminate comment spam, you must enter the anti-spam code shown in the box below. Don't forget to do this! Your comment may end up in the junk bin if you dont...