Search - 311 :: Soundsystem

Awesome

Nate505 | Lakewood, Colorado USA | 05/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album. I think 3 of my top 10 favorite songs from this band are on here. Flowing is great, I absolutely love the harmonizing and sound. Sever has great lyrics and probably my favorite chours from the band. Plus, I love the little guitar solo outro at the end. And Mindspin, while a fairly average song for the first two minutes, finishes with maybe my favorite piece of music in the history of music. The ending of that song is absolutely brilliant. Add those songs with a bunch of other solid songs (Freeze Time, Come Original, Life's Not a Race, Large in the Margain) and it easily makes the album 5* to me. Plus, the other songs aren't all that bad either. In fact, the only song I really dislike on the album is Can't Fade Me. This is definitely in the upper echolon of 311 albums for me.

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You are now entering the soundsystem

Private Quentin Tarantino Fan | nowhere | 06/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The last 311 album that's solid all the way through (okay, almost). It's not as expiremental as Transistor, but they take another dive into yet another dimension. Soundsystem is greatly produced, and Nick Hexum/SA Martinez just make some of the coolest sound effects for Soundsystem. Besides the fact that the music sounds so damn good, they finally put a lot of little things in it. More turntables, effects, etc. It seems like your in a computer. Similar aesthetic to Transistor, way different vibe.



Besides the numerous sounds, the music itself is as kick @$$ as ever. Granted, Eons is one of my least favorite 311 songs, overrated for sure. The production really helps and dosen't take away emotional impact, it just makes what they already can do with their equipment, just sound better. In other words, production helps but dosen't make the music a product. The vocals by Nick are just so cool at times, on Freeze Time, it sounds like an announcer, and on Large In The Margin, his voice floats high and takes you along. SA Martinez's voice is smooth as ever, on Grassroots, his voice was way too high at times. Strong All Along is as smooth as butter. Dancehall reggae and rock mixed! Freeze Time is grungy and compelling. They successfully mix a dancehall chorus with rock and funk in Come Original, and the end's sound effects are very cool. There is an absoluty spot-on and amazing cover of Leaving Babylon by The Bad Brains, one of the Brain's best songs. It's not the original (which is a great song), but the classic gets a new life. Life's Not A Race has three shredding solos from Tim Mahoney, all in the vein of Santana, yet firmly his own. Mindspin, excellet stuff. There's just quite the bunch of great songs, even if Soundsystem isn't as rocking as Music or funky as 311.



So, back to the sound effects. Besides the better production, the sound effects are the most original thing they have ever done. It's why Soundsystem is so much different besides the music. Flowing's 20 second intro is completely electronic, it makes it a great intro. Mindspin's finale is great, like most have told. Leaving Babylon features a boatload of them. Living And Rocking has turntablism and the intro is great as well. There's just so many cool things around in Soundsystem, definitly something that you haven't of heard before.



True, not all the songs are perfect, and I don't know why so many people like Eons, I don't care for Eons. But it's their last excellent album. Sure, From Chaos, Evolver, and Don't Tread On Me had some great songs, but they just don't match the first five albums.



9.5/10"