Nice downtempo debut
Jim Furst | Gainesville, FL | 11/22/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Chilling Effect is a nice debut for Pelican City. It is very polished production-wise and is easy on the ears for the most part. I would compare the atmospheric hip-hop inspired tracks to more recent cds by DJ Krush or Dj Shadow - at least in style. Certainly it would be very difficult to make a musical statement on par with DJ Shadow, but The Chilling Effect soundtrack captures the lazy, gloomy emotions that makes downtempo hip-hop attractive. I really like Pelican City's use of acoustic guitar and jazz trumpet on a couple of tracks. They lend an earthy quality to the electronic beats and samples. I must say that one or two of the tracks seem to drag on a bit, but overall I was impressed by this first effort. It makes me want to hear wether Pelican City improves on the formula on the second cd."
Post-ambiental soundtracks.
abarcelo | Bloomington, IN. USA | 09/26/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This debut album by Pelican City from Athens, Georgia, is a perfect example of what they call `downtempo': luscious harmonies in a combination of electronic and traditional (trumpet, guitar, piano, drums) instruments plus some quirky samples set to slow hip-hop beats. Last year, this would have been called `trip-hop'. Ten years ago, it would've been called `New Age'. And twenty years ago, it would've been `progressive'. Check out their collaborations with Neutral Milk Hotel on track 6 and Wunderkind on track 11. All instrumental."