Search - Books :: Thought for Food

"I was born the day that music died..."

Isildur? Quite. | 09/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not really sure why I love this CD so much. As far as I remember, I wasn't particularly amazed or blown away by it when I got it over a year ago, hence I let it collect dust in the back seat of my car with countless other forgotten disks within a week. A few days ago, however, I was lying awake late at night skimming through my iPod looking for something interesting, and happened once again upon The Books. I hit `play,' and never looked back.



What first greets your ear when you start this album is what can only be described as a swirling, brooding guitar pluck. The tune slowly but surely picks up urgency as the song progresses before it altogether disappears around the 3 minute mark amidst an all-out instrumental freak-out. Soon you realize that the guitar and other conventional instruments are just the beginning for this album. What The Books manage to create is a sprawling musical landscape of deep electronic beats and blips, string instruments, and some of the most unique samples you've ever heard.



The samples themselves are what really decorate the musical landscapes, dotting the rolling hills and sloping deserts with all sorts of colors and interesting objects. They range from what sounds like a grainy radio recording from WWII Great Britain to what may be a shopping cart rolling out of an elevator and crashing into a wall. Some samples are so monumental they cast their shadow across the entire song, as is the case with "Contempt," a song that slowly builds around a sample of two men talking. What makes the samples so great is that they not only sound like nothing else produced today, but they also simultaneously provoke feeling and nostalgia in a way samples almost never do; just listen to the little girl in "Motherless Bastard" and you'll know what I mean. They are also so wide in variety that you can listen to a song one time and hear a completely different song the next time.



I disagree that I am just "happy knowing that this music exists," as the last reviewer commented. I absolutely can listen to this CD over and over. Unfortunately, it kind of loses steam near the last few songs and loses some of its ambient charm. Still, there is no shame in hitting the `Restart' button; the first 9 songs are nothing short of amazing.



Many reviewers have noted that this CD might not be for everyone, and I completely agree, however I also would wholeheartedly recommend Thought For Food to someone looking for truly interesting and unique new music far outside the typical indie music spectrum. You will be pleasantly surprised, believe me."

Thought virus

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 07/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A little less structured than its follow-up, "The Lemon of Pink," this CD manages to also be a bit darker and sprawl a bit wider. All the elements that make subsequent Books releases compelling and consistently good are in place, though it has yet to have gelled into anything resembling a "formula." In all, quite delightful and unpredictable -- this is the album to convert your friends into Books fans with."