keepers-8
keeper avg .364
With a title like Dusk At Cubist Castle, arty is clearly on the menu. While experimentation takes over the back half of the album, lead-off track "The Opera House"**** is just joyous garage-punk complete with keyboard slides. At its best the album is just trying to capture the joy of making some good melodies and noise though the lens of Nuggets psychedelia (especially obvious on the mysterious "Can You Come Down With Us?") and power pop, such as "Jumping Fences"****. While the primitive production is occasionally abrasive, it also mirrors the spirit of that era. The good thing about "Define A Transparent Dream"**** is that it's "Strawberry Fields Forever"-era Beatles which can be enjoyed without the baggage of history. "Memories Of Jacqueline 1906"**** explodes with youth and exuberance that would later be harnessed by Arcade Fire and Polyphonic Spree, while subdued "Marking Time"**** and closing track "NYC-25"**** make the most of simple but subtly creative song-writing. In between these two tracks, the 23-minute suite of tracks all named "Green Typewriters" dominates the album's second half. The first of these**** is a simple swaggering rocker similar to T-Rex, but the rest are abbreviated song snippets of the type popularized by Guided By Voices broken up by short instrumental/noise passages. Most pass artsy, all the way to fartsy, including one at over 9 and a half minutes of ambient noise. The remainder of the album continues to bounce randomly between instrumental noise and novelty songs. Though these tracks can be appreciated together on their own terms, none are individually great and end up diluting the effect of the album's consistently impressive first half.
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