Blue States Returns after a very long musical journey!
bordersj2 | Boston | 09/13/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Blue States returns with their (his) last album in the past 3 years. And it's been nothing short of a journey for Andy Dragazis. Starting out with 99/00 with "Nothing Changes Under the Sun", I wasn't immediately turned onto the sound. But the more I listened to the album, the more I loved it and it's one of my top 10 albums I own - maybe because it feels so simple and light. "Man Mountain" followed up and it was released state-side on ESL's label (as was NCUTS), but I thought that one was a slight step back from the first. "The Soundings" followed up a few years later in 2004, and I didn't get into the sound. A lot of people really liked the album but to me it was a bit too much of a departure from the sound I enjoyed from Blue States. But now we have Andy D. back "First Steps Into...", and it's on Memphis Industries, and the sound is vintage Blue States!
You wonder how Andy D. does it with all of the instruments - he really does have limited help with this. Coming Home seems to be the apt title here. "Allies" starts out with neat key work and a nice build - it's an unmistakably Blue States intro. There's some slight, very airy vocals layed over the rhythm and hte journey begins. It's followed up with "First STeps... Last Stand", a song that gives you all types of images in your head whether you're travelling or seeing something for the first time. Great guitar, great keys, percussion. It's an awesome rhythm and pure melodic. "The Electric Implement" will remind you of a few tracks from "Nothing Changes Under the Sun", like the light "Spit & Soar". 100's & 1000's is cool too - builds nicely. But one of the highlights to me has to be "Look To Your Laurels", very catchy, very neat. A bit of both of his first albums.
I liked this album - it was very very true to the older Blue States albums. So if you were more so a fan of Nothing Changes Under the Sun and some of the melodic touches of "Man Mountain", this album's for you. Granted, this album won't grab everyone and there were some songs on here that I didn't really get on with. And the vocals really are just instruments on their own since it's near impossible for me to follow them. That's not the real bad thing though because I didn't talk about all the good songs. The downer is that the domestic release (this one) is missing a good song for who knows what reason, so it gets a solid 4 stars. I could never really define a genre for Blue States... it's not really chill-out, not all electronica, not alternative, not industrial... it is its own sound. Check this one out!"
This is a major disappointment to fans of their first album,
Mendicant Pigeon | pdx, or United States | 01/04/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I hesitated before pulling the trigger on this one because of my disappointment with their previous, post-first album efforts, and my fear of disappointment wasn't disappointed: This is not a very good effort.
If you haven't listened to Nothing Changes you should definitely buy it and listen to it, for it is one of the very best albums of any genre that I've owned. I pull it out from time to time to listen to it and have yet to be disappointed. It is just so good that it holds up over time.
Many music groups do this; put out one super, super good album and then struggle to live up to that initial flash of brilliance. This group is one of those.
The problem with this album is that the style is so radically different that one has difficulty believing that it was produced by the same outfit. Also the music compositions are morose and cause one to feel like moping. There seems to be a lot of moaning and wailing set atop the plastic drudgery of an electronic beat. The sound lacks the lush and quirky nature of the very first album done by this lot and it suffers for that.
One recognizes that many music groups die from releasing the same set of music over and over just slightly rearranged and crew of Blue States is to be commended for trying to do something different and original. In other words they get an A for their effort to change. Unfortunately their new sound is not a pleasure to listen to."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1