Search - Lord Runningclam :: Fun For The Whole Family

A wonderful surprise!

Teacher in Texas | Fredericksburg, TX USA | 12/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After being treated to "Leon's Dog," an incredibly surreal (almost eerie) ambient tune, on the Netradio, I knew I had to track this song down. I finally was able to find it: Lord Runningclam. An immediate turnoff for me was the Bottom Heavy breakbeat genre under which it was classified. I hate breakbeat. Nevertheless, I gave this CD a chance because of the excellence of "Leon's Dog." After several listenings I must say, if you hate breakbeat music, like I did, then this CD will make you a believer! (Although I can't compare this to any others, this is my only breakbeat album! :-)) This is a truly innovative and imaginative recording, something ruefully rare these days. David de Laski is one of the few artists who can not only construct mind-blowing percussion, but formulate wonderful melodies and sound FX to go with it. Each and every track is spectacular, each filled with white-hot energy, building up and gliding through to the very end. Its shrink-wrap label read something like "Lounge electronica for the next millenium bachelor pad," which immediately reminded me of my cousin's retro-futuristic Stereolab obsession, so I thought "what the heck." So sure enough, breakbeats, keyboard riffs, hilarious Ken Nordine vocals, and ,yes, Esquivel-esque trumpets! How much better could it get? I do not think that the short duration of the album is a drawback, because it actually allows you to focus on the ingenuity and energy of each track: "Faces in the Night" with it's funky beat and nice but kooky synth lines, "Wrinkly" with it's whistling and incredible whistle line+trumpets, "Sweet Little Hats" (with a name like that how can you go wrong?) with it's funny samples and space-age trumpets, "Flibberty Jib" complete with the hysterical laughter-inducing storyline and awesome sound effects/melodies, "Pnubop" with it's DnB beat and beautiful piano chords, and of course "Leon's Dog," filled with hazy, dreamlike synth lines and bongos.. so surreal it'll scare your pants off. I was originally going to award this CD only four stars, but then I realized "How could I NOT give it five?" If you want a bit of a change from your progressive trance collection that is actually worth listening to more than once, then buy this CD and float away in the strange but wonderful world of Lord Runningclam!"