Search - Half Japanese :: 1/2 Gentlemen / Not Beasts

Eh...?

Me | Detroit, Michigan | 02/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How someone could such a muddled piece of work as this and make it as justifiably artistic as they did is utterly bizzare.On the outset, 1/2 Gentleman/Not Beasts is a pounding anti-rock assualt, so anti-rock that it might actually be considered anti-music, by some. Rather than having actual inclinations some might use with music, such as, key or tempo, Jad Fair and the gang make this highly expressive piece of avant-post-punk.It`s simply astonishing how great something so bizarrely primitive manages to be. Most percussion sounds like someone just pounding away, hardly worrying about any sort of beat. Guitars are jagged, and through waves of blungeoning, tuneless scrapping. However, some great songs manage to worm their way through the racket, such as ``I Love Oriental Girls``, ``Patti Smith``, ``Dream Date, and ``Shy Around Girls``. While the music does work well through these individual songs, the album is most effective played straight through, as one whole long piece of pounding avant-rock.So go ahead, go clean your house, or drive to work, or do anything, and let the noise of Half Japanese carry you on...don`t try sleeping to it, though. I doubt that will work."