Search - The Busy Signals :: Baby's First Beats

SO Sugar-Free; Yet so Sweet: Hansel and Gretel in CANDYLAND!

Carrie | 06/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here in Toyland I was drowning in the dirty ball crawl of plastic POP bubbles until I discovered sugar-free records. Nothing this good has come along since Matador. "Baby's First Beats" is like landing on the game board of Candyland, walking along the coloured tiles through sugar plum forest, the peppermint woods, the ice cream sea, etc. First stop is "Headphoneworld, "everyone on their own with their headphones on" a surreal little spot of waitresses instead of actresses. But just when you're digging the loop, you pop into the next track, "I'm So Slippery" a liltingly soapy little number that washes you up (Your brain's a "bubblebath"), before you soar with the next track, "Birds on High." (Perhaps one my my favourite stops.) The colors and sensations don't stop til you get to the dirty end, "Ladies and Germs." Kids don't care whether they get dirty or not. By this point you don't really care whether or not you've won the game or made it to the candy castle. The fun part of Candyland (Hey! No reading is required; just the ability to read colors) isn't getting to the end, eating it up and putting it away, but drawing the rainbow-coloured cards, taking in the scenery, unexpectedly being sent back to those places you already passed through. In some ways rock and roll and pop have been about rebellious adolescence, but "The Busy Signals" take you further back to a sort of naive chidhood, no less fulfilling than anything else in the toy department, but 100% more colorful and enchanting--somehow more real. There's no molasses swamp to get stuck in here. Take a card, friend!"

Brilliant depresso-funk-pop

J. Hamilton | Western PA, USA | 04/08/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is the perfect rainy day companion: beats drip and tap and pound, like rain on a tin roof... the songs are like clouds with just a hint of sun creeping around the edges...and the vocals are like that catch in your throat when you mean to say how you really feel but then can't. This is pure pop and the best kind of indie, never a dull moment, and the artwork is really cool, too. Try it, you'll fall in love!"

Gorgeous

F. H. Payne | Chicago, IL United States | 01/12/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I think the amazing part about this cd is it's ability to be fun without being syrupy sweet. The instrumentation is very sparse, relying very heavily on samples, perfectly layered like a big yummy cake. The first thing to stand out are the beats; lo-fi and groovy but don't sound like Paul's Boutique. And the vocals are killer: "You looks so cute with your headphones on". I love this stuff! My most important criteria for music is fun and this cd is a blast."