Artist: The Books
Title: The Way Out
Release date: July 20
Label: Temporary Residence Limited
I left work early yesterday because I realized I'd taken only one day off so far this year, and that was back in February. I came home and turned on a baseball game (TV volume down, because the Cubs announcers can be real annoying) and warily popped in the new Books CD, with the intention of nodding off.
No dice. Yeah, the game was boring enough to induce sleep, but The Way Out was too cool to ignore. Essentially an electronic album with processed and manipulated found tapes (of children, of self-help recordings, of evangelists) serving in the role of lead vocals.
Sampled recordings of people talking certainly have been done before, but The Books' serious approach to their source material sets these recordings apart. Used not for novelty or, worse, cheap laughs (though one song, featuring a recording of a child threatening to kill another child is darkly amusing), this New York duo (one guy plays guitar, one plays cello, both must play around a lot on computers) seems to be using these recordings to create a concept record about stretching one's mental capacity. I don't know, maybe it's too high-concept, but it makes for a compelling listen.
And what's more, they include a "lyric sheet" of the transcribed dialogues and monologues. All in all, it's pretty effective package.
Best song: "We Bought the Flood"
Rotation: Medium
Deja Vu: Beats me. I've never heard anything like The Books.
I'd rather listen to: I wouldn't listen to The Way Out a ton, but I'm glad I have a copy -- especially during baseball season.
Grade: B+
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