Ships (CD)
The sixth and most accessible album to date, featuring a star-studded cast of players including Deerhoof, Sufjan Stevens, Serena Maneesh, and more. What began as a senior thesis project a decade ago has evolved into a musical world so rich with musicality and merrymaking that the first six albums and ten years of touring pomp alone could nourish the most scrutinizing of thrill-seekers. There's no hard distinction between the visuals (costumes and graphics) and the music from this suburban New Jersey group. "One enters your heart through your eyes, one through your ears," says Daniel.
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | Ship The Majestic Suffix |
| 2 | Cast It At The Setting Sail |
| 3 | Bloodbook On The Halfshell |
| 4 | Did I Step On Your Trumpet |
| 5 | When It Comes To You I'm Lazy |
| 6 | Two Sitting Ducks |
| 7 | My Lion Sleeps Tonight |
| 8 | Kids Pushing Kids |
| 9 | Time That Bald Sexton |
| 10 | He Who Flattened Your Flame Is Getting Torched |
| 11 | Five Stars And Two Thumbs Up |
| Alex Stegeman
- des moines, IA, USA |
| This is a wonderful cacophonous record! If you are on the fence about buying it, please do. Every time I listen to it I find some new oboe, clarinet, guitar, or voice that captivates me, creating a new and always enjoyable listening experience. Daniel Smith sings as if he's swallowed a frog that swallowed a cicada, which is a good thing. This is perhaps my favorite album of 2006. | |
| BRock Thiessen
- Vancouver, , Canada |
| You know the tired old metaphor of an onion and its layers and the never-ending peeling? Well, the new Danielson album is one hell of an onion. In a time where rock albums are becoming much too digestible, I am happy to say that it will take numerous headphone expeditions to fully discern the entangled complexities found on Ships.
Don't be confused by the name; Daniel, the eldest Smith and spiritual father of the Danielson Famile, has just pulled a Will Oldham and returned to the original ''Danielson'' moniker used on his 1995 debut. With the change he has brought such friends as Deerhoof, Sufjan Stevens, and Why? along on a pilgrimage so ambitious and large in scope that it has actually spilled over into a series of inter-connected 7-inches. Smith has crafted an album where every note, chord, and tortured falsetto has purpose, goals, and some kind of higher meaning.
This all comes off sounding like the most accessible thing Smith has done thus far while still keeping all the elements of the old Danielson Famile: the cryptic lyrical musing about caskets and body baskets, the sisters' reiterating of Daniel's sermons, and some of the strangest rhythmic patterns and melodies you'll ever hear. All it takes is for you reach the remarkably impassioned apex of Ships opening track, ''Ship the Majestic Suffix'', for it to be clear that Daniel Smith has truly outdone himself this time. Is it still too early to start my best-of list for 2006?
| |
|
| Chris Shaw
- greenbelt, MD, US |
| I thought I was getting too old to really appreciate new music. Listening to new music and buying CDs was a mindless chore for me the past few months, done solely to sound current when talking to strangers at shows; I went to the shows so I could sound current when talking to people at the record store. I would listen once or twice out of politeness, put them away, and then go back to Neutral Milk Hotel and The Pixies for the bulk of my listening. When I got Ships, I did the same--listened to it once and put it down. But something made me play it on my walk around the park, and I finally heard it for the first time. Playing Sufjan Stevens's evil doppleganger, Danielson shrieks at every turn, aping the cacophonous ochestra he employs on most of this album's highlights. "Did I step on your trumpet" is by turns the album's best and least representative piece, but the first six tracks build up to it so perfectly that only an isolated listen reveals its anachronism. A masterpiece. Calling this record Danielson's most accessible is misleading, and obscures the point--that this is the Danielson Famile's best record. | |
| Anna Insound
- NYC, NY, |
| 'Ships' is unfettered exuberance. Danielson (and the dozens who accompany him here) has created a brilliant, inspired document of joy, folly, love, terror, fear (and eventual acceptance) of the unknown, and all of it - human life from birth to death. From the first, glee has you by the heart, and won't let go; the perfect orchestration, infectious melodies and harmonies, and impassioned vocal delivery keep things driving. 'Ships' reminds us that Danielson's been throwing down uncynical, driving orch-pop since the Arcade Fire were teenagers (check out 'Fetch The Compass, Kids' if you need proof), and flying that freak-folk flag years before the longhairs caught up. This record is brilliant, joyous, and as close to perfect as they come. If a better album comes out this year, 2006 will be a transcendent year for music. | |
Home About Us Your Account Contact Us FAQs Affiliate Program Advertising Privacy Statement
Terms and Conditions For Use ©1999-2008 Insound.
![[Cover]](http://www.insound.com/annex/covers/INS28986.gif)
