Search - Sixtoo :: Chewing on Glass & Other Miracle

Rated a Sixtoo

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 12/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At the end of "Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures" you may not have the slightest clue what you just heard, but you will like it. Rob "Sixtoo" Squires explores new musical territory in this glitch-filled, twitchy electronic/rock/hip-hop/ambient amalgation, which strays down paths that few musicians even think to tread.



It opens with an insistent buzz, like a saw. The buzz gives way to chimes and blips, as a subtle little melody starts to rise from the depths of "Boxcutter Emporium Part 1." You don't get part two until halfway through the album: a solid, complex percussive melody overlaid with plenty of odd sounds, and then part three, a surprisingly gentle, slow song that only crackles occasionally.



The remaining songs are just as entrancing: a mass of faintly gothic tunes, dark rock songs touched with ambience, and some distorted electronica. The feeling is only enhanced by the sounds Sixtoo inserts into it -- stretches of slow electronic waves, rattlesnakes, churning waves of sound, loud buzzes and half-distorted voices. It sounds chaotic, but it somehow whips itself into a glorious stormy web of sound.



If you grabbed DJ Shadow, crammed him into a closet with a few of the ambient Canadian indierocksters, and added a bit of hip-hop grit then you would have something like Sixtoo's sound. Sixtoo admits from the start that this is a departure for him; he wanted live instrumentation for this album, and he got a Rhodes piano for his 29th birthday. (The liner notes tell a little anecdote about every song)



Apparently the Rhodes piano (and a Sea and Cake show) did wonderful things for him. But despite the otherworldly sound of this album, almost no computer effects were used -- instead, Sixtoo relies on the eerie sounds generated by his Rhodes, which most of the original melodies were played on. His playing is all it needs to be -- weird, alien, and dark.



The recorded drumbeats are absolutely stunning, as is the churning bass. Sixtoo gets the sounds he wants by being creative, as evidenced by how he got the "strings" effect in one song. Damo Suzuki of Can makes an appearance in the penultimate song, "Storm Clouds and Silver Linings," sounding like he's drowning in a sea of thick Rhodes noise.



"Chewing on Glass and Other Miracle Cures" sounds lonely, chilly, dark and utterly entrancing, like being trapped in a psychedelic noir movie."

Mormons mourn mums more mondays

Michael De | St Andrews, Scotland | 08/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This man is clearly evolving. I saw him live last year in Montreal spinning his favorite rock records. Who does that? Nobody, that's who.



It's dark and provocative. It's spaceage. It's crippling. It'll have you squirming and writhing. Each song escalates until finally you break down by the end and find yourself cutting your wrists and telling your girlfriend to fetch more cocoa puffs from the grocery store.



Unlike "Duration", he drops some "rap" (more like his usual spoken word) over a couple of the tracks. He's fierce. He clearly had a bad childhood. His parents should be blamed, but also praised, because his music is a wonder. Some of the beats make you want to beat the crap of your favorite stuffed animal, but then you realize that the track is really telling you the opposite, and it completely blows your mind. How any track can have that effect is in itself amazing. But I felt that Duration was more moving and less "rock"-ish. Tell your mother you love her."

Techno Needs Cellos

Michael De | 06/18/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This cd convinced me that bridging the gap between computerized instruments and the physical kind is something that is not done nearly enough. It's like stuffing DJ Shadow, The Roots, and Godspeed You Black Emperor in a studio and seeing what comes out. And no wonder on the last comparison, as one of the many members of that band is involved. Sixtoo has the same sense of expansive, majestic claustrophobia as the conglom from Canada, like being stuck on a tiny, tiny boat in a vast grey storm. There are elements of drum & bass and hiphop here too, though the voice is distorted, and the beats staticky, so that even that is lonely, distant and grey. A bit spartan and monochromatic, but still a wonderful album."