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The music sounds whirr em then

oska from japan | japan or god center mind | 02/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"oh, how they know when to growl the composition into three-dimensional musics where headphone melt, ears implode, brain know humming bird whirls, whizzez, knows no boundary, sheep decend into my vortex mind, dissolve my going, reborn my coming mind, animal plant and mineral worlds enter the womb wind, howl!"

Two different worlds that you thought weren't possible

Ryan Hennessy | Albany, NY | 03/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'll be honest. Before this record, I had only the faintest idea of who William Cullen Hart was. I knew there was a thing called Olivia Tremor Control, and that was somehow tied to Neutral Milk Hotel, and lots of indie kids really loved him, but that was it. So it would probably help to have some background in Hart's ideas to understand this one, but oh well. It's a strange record to review, and I don't know where to start, so I think I'll just throw out good words to describe the album, and take it from there.DREAMY - In more ways than one, this is a very dreamy album. There's tons of guest players on it, and they're all playing things from guitars to violins and clarinets. Everything's on here, so the sound is constantly changing. And it's all graced with an amazing touch of ambience, which is what I'm guessing William Hart's signature sound is. Things fade in and fade out, and it all just sort of drifts along. It's psychedelic, actually. It's also very dream-like because it seems to bend time. That's in the lyrics, too, but I'll get to that later. Hart has an ear for mixing like Brian Wilson. "Prehistoric" doesn't have any more instrumentation than two guitars, one of which is backwards. He infuses this song with the same dreamlike melodies as "Outside Blasts" which seemingly has a hundred tracks of sound. Hart's voice, meanwhile, sounded strained, almost like a ghost. TIME-BENDING - An interview I read with William Hart helped a lot with album. In it he was talking about all these crazy theories he has, about all of time happening at once. To him, there could be a dinosaur walking right by him and it wouldn't surprise him, because we're all on the same wavelength or something. It was weird complicated scientific stuff, but he definitely believes in it. As he sings at one point, "It's a lovely universe / We use more than five senses." MELODIC - It doesn't matter how many instruments you cram in, or how much ambience you give it, an album can't work without good songwriting. Like I said before, Hart follows Brian Wilson and writes some pretty sweet melodies. I guess that's why he's part of the Elephant 6 collective. "Illusion," if it were recorded differently it could easily pass for a Paul McCartney song.The climax of the songwriting takes place during "Outside Blasts" and "Inside Blasts." The first is march-like, has Hart singing about "circular time" and features what sounds like samples of vikings chanting but is really Hart and a few others slowed down. It's led off by an accordion at a funeral procession. The same accordion starts "Inside Blasts" and the song drifts along as Hart sings about worlds occuring at the same time, then the music rises up and Hart purposefully sings, "Who wants to rise above these buildings tonight? / I'm a tree that follows the stars / And who wants to rise above their chemistry tonight?" Violin, piano, Moog synthesizer, acoustic guitars, cello, trumpet, trombone, pipe organ, accordion, banjo: Those are some of the instruments I recognized from the song. And it all blends. It's like you're hearing the song assemble in William Hart's head."

It's a long, flowing dream

smartguy7 | San Francisco, CA United States | 10/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was wondering how long it would take amazon to get this gem of a CD in. This is some great work by Will Hart and others. So good in fact, that I will shed few tears over the apparent demise of the Olivia Tremor Control. What's great about this CD is that it has something to attract all OTC faithful. Some liked OTC only for their obvious talent for penning Revolver-era pop rock songs with the psychadelic edge to them. I fall into that category. Some like the sound collages and noise tracks. Though I found SOME of that stuff interesting, I would have preferred, in the case of Black Foliage, a CD full of mostly music tracks to the jumbled layout of Black Foliage.Circulatory System cuts out the random noise tracks (you know, the ones that sound like there was a small child loose in the studio?). The songs fade into a bit of noise, but after only a few seconds, a new song rises out of the ashes of the old. That's one of the most charming aspects of this CD. It flows seamlessly most of the way through. Also, the songs are short, but absolutely hypnotic. They aren't nearly as poppy as the OTC output, but they're just as gorgeous...complete with layered instruments and other sounds, and majestic lyrics. Will Hart's voice isn't a typical singing voice, but it just fits his music perfectly. The overall feel of the music is dark and dreamy. You will feel like you're in a hazy but vivid dream, if that makes any sense. And the ride lasts for close to an hour. Enjoy."