Search - Gastr Del Sol :: Camoufleur

Better late than never

leopold bloom | the mighty palouse | 02/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So, I found this used (in Chicago, of all places) in the summer of '01, and I thought I'd check it out, given the O'Rourke pedigree.



I listened to the first few tracks, found it pleasant enough, and filed it away. Then, a couple of years later, I pulled it out, put in the 5-disc shuffle, and went off to another part of the house to do some odds and ends. At some point, the final 2 minutes of "Bauchredner" came wafting through the house, and I thought I'd died and gone to musical heaven. Over a motorik-style Stereolabbish beat, there was a drum fill, then horns, then beautiful pedal-steel guitar...and it made me sit down and it made me smile. I then realized I'd never gotten to the end of the CD before. Oh, silly me. It was like finding a $100 bill while doing the laundry. It was like a sudden vista appearing during a monotonous drive. Unexpected, beautiful, and all the more beautiful being so unexpected. I'm not suggesting that the final two minutes of "Bauchredner" are worth buying the CD for, but that experience prompted me to reassess the entire disc, and it's since gone into regular and heavy rotation.



Let this be a lesson. If O'Rourke has anything to do with a project, listen to the entire damn thing."

Caveat emptor

09/08/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"after seeing this album get praised to the sky i have to say that i'm disappointed. assorted bits of music, different instruments and styles get sprinkled around -- it's true some of the bits are beautiful but i don't feel they add up to much. often they're buried in the diversity or they're played to monotony. anyway that's how it seems me after a half-dozen listens. as for comparisons, i'd say the singing sounds alot like doug martsch from built to spill, especially on the opener-- except the lyrics are self-conscously arty and (to me) silly. some snippets sound like outtakes from stereolab's "cobra" (horn section, sixties swanky pop), plus there are bits of asian and american folk, country music, steel drum and accordian, fred frith-style guitar workouts......you get the idea. the trouble is that i like everythng that this album reminds me of much more than this album itself. bottom line: i don't think 'camoufleur' merits the hype and i suggest you have a listen before buying unless you have a good idea what you're getting."

An effort to pump this disc...

leopold bloom | 07/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...because I think Gastr del Sol are incredibly underappreciated and could very easily reach a much larger audience. "Camofleur" proves it, and let it be said, this is a POP album (unlike their previous efforts)--for more experimental, challenging listening, "Upgrade & Afterlife" is austere, bracing, and very rewarding. Camofleur, then, is eclectic pop music. O'Rourke and Grubbs seem to have included every influence they ever spent a day with, from Eno ("A Puff of Dew") and Parks ("Each Dream is An Example," "The Seasons Reverse") to Fahey ("Bauchredner"), Kraftwerk, Conrad, and Vietnamese folk songs ("Black Horse"). There are acoustic guitars with deft fingerwork, pedal steel guitars, pianos on top of needly-noisy synthesizer sounds, tape-looped found sounds, backup singers (!), and even drums, occasionally. The amazing part is that O'Rourke has managed to arrange and mix it all so that it is remarkably cohesive. The songs blend right into one another, organically--a common adjective applied to his production sound--but they are interestingly arranged and diverse enough that they are clearly distinct from one another. This a marked reversal from their other albums, where "post-rock" is apropos (spacious, percussionless extended sequences punctured by bursts of sheer noise). Another departure is that this album is always pleasant, almost dreamy, easy to listen to. Where past albums tempered the occasional pleasantness with dissonance, "Camofleur" replaces the dissonance with denser arrangements and more varied musicianship. If anything this album is a harbinger of the pop sensibilty of Grubbs' and O'Rourke's subsequent solo efforts. To my ear (and brain), what they did together is far richer and more interesting than almost anything they've done alone (possibly excepting The Magic Sound of Fenno'berg). They are smart, exceptionally skilled musicians with talents that seemed to complement each other in ways few bands together for twice as long ever reached. "Each Dream Is an Example" and "Blues Subtitled No Sense of Wonder" are stand-out tracks that showcase the layered, sometimes lush arrangements, as well as Grubbs' more interesting lyrics. "Sensuous detail meet sensuous detail" sums it all up: that's exactly what "Camofleur" is about, sensuous detail."