Welcome to Planet 282
Thee Inspector | Seattle, WA | 06/17/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Hope It Lands" takes you on an aural journey through broad musical landscapes wraught with the spastic, melodic and revolutionary approach we've come to expect from Thinking Fellers. They follow their own path exploring the far reaches of vibration and frequency taking us along for the ride. Like all of their other albums this one is a gem."
Poke me in the snodgrass with a pointy stick
S. R Robertson | Oh Henry? | 02/03/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As different as the Eno/Talking Heads-influenced sounds of Stangers From The Universe was from the relentlessly dark and lo-fi Mother Of all Saints, so is I Hope It Lands from Strangers. In some ways, it's not much different, but as soon as you hear "A Lamb's Lullaby"---a fast, aggressive prog metal song that sounds a bit like Red-era King Crimson---you know new explorations are afoot. Sung by Anne, it veers between ultra-noisy guitar blasts, inhuman riffs, and a chorus of gregorian extraterrestrials. It's followed by "Empty Cup", another diamond sung by Anne. Traveling between a breezy mid-tempo progressive sound and more noisy guitar blasts, it continues the rocking. After the brief filler title track, it's proceeded by "Lizard's Dream". This song continues their experimentation with "atonal bluegrass" as I like to call it, with a bumpkin-on-acid chorus that may remind you of Primus. "Cornad...": the standard eerie filler. "Elgin Miller" is one of the album's strongest points, a mini-epic of pop that travels from more bouncy atonal bluegrass, and a bizarro chorus, before giving way to tight little extensions that recall Frank Black, complete with a surf rock edge. "Hudson Bottom Dance" continues the spaced-out sirf rock sound, perfectly fit for a flying car ride down the rings of Jupiter. It's quickly replaced by the screaming of some sort of interplanetary dog barking overtop of discarded guitar insanity. THat would be "Jagged Ambush Bug" you would be experiencing. Before even 20 seconds rolls by, it's consumed by chaotic insanity of "Brains". This song rolls through several movements of noise rock, but watch out for the upbeat Talking Heads-style change in the middle, and for an operatic male voice singing in a few of the bridges. "Rampaging..." continues the chaos with a brief introduction that resembles cycloptic Venusians going wipeout-boogeying on the beaches of Europa, before sucumbing to a mess of no-wave destruction as their arch-enemy the Elephant Dog from Gogily6 munches them all down. "Cuckoo at THe World" is a quick peice of art punk that ends in delicious laughter. Imagine the Inspector dancing to his own song. Just do it. "The Arbeiter", a little sloppy no-wave polka complete with lyrics about birds and snakes. "Triple X": this is one of the best moments on the cd. It veers from laidback banjo-injected polka pop to a jammy outro that keeps the weird little groove going until it's interrupted by quick bursts of Sonic Youth-worthy guitar eruptions that plod along here and there, until the whole thing is incinerated by angelic voices and static-encrusted noise. "Booth Delirium" is a short reprise of the main melody from "A Lamb's Lullaby", this time under the influence of the Middle East and Great Annihilator-era Swans. "Hills" continues this feel, leaving you bungled and confused by the whole experience. Okey-doke!!!!!"
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1