Menomena. my turn.
the first comment on this photo on myspace says, "This photo turned me straight, so it could turn me gay." and the kid's name was Eric Frog Llama Grapefruit.
see, the truth is, i actually really do like Menomena quite a bit. listening to their album, for me, is like the first time i get my hands on a Lips album -- i'm shy. i take time to nestle myself into the flow of it, the often brash and rejective qualities of the record as a whole. it's not dependable from song to song. there's a lot going on. it's clashy, weird, throw-around, fantastic stuff, and i take my sweet time.

so now that i've had sufficient enough time to hear it out, i want to give you a few tracks that i particularly held on to as i got into the groove that is Friend And Foe. i figure that, if you're like me, you had to wait (and are maybe still waiting) for the Menomena bug to wiggle its way into your ear and make the magic that Barsuk knew it had to pick up.

::::Menomena - The Pelican

i'm going to be perfectly honest here. i connected to this song like i connected to Tapes 'n Tapes. oo, wow, remember them? (little ironic twitch there.) the vocals are awfully loud, bordering on piercing, but stops just before frantic and melts into what you might call "excitement." nah, we'll go with emphatic. it's quite effective, for those of you that actually enjoyed TnT for their actual music, actually. it also plods like a TnT song, banging drums, building the characteristic Menomena clashing.

::::Menomena - Wet and Rusting

don't try and download that file, there, because it brings you to the hype machine. basically, every blog and their entire contacts list has this song up, so i'm not going to continue the trend. but here we are with the single, and it was instantly apparent to me (without doing research) that this was to represent the band. it really works for them. the fake-out beginning, the sing-song vocals and easy rhymes -- they all go so well with the almost twee-like instrumentation, then spills out into the clashing, psych-rock tidbits (alternatively performed - electronic elements and the like). yes, that. that's what i'm talking about. whatever you do! don't miss this track.

::::Menomena - My My

man, is this song pretty! it fits so well into its surroundings. i was tempted to write an entire post on this track alone. between hard, weird, delightful banging-about "indie rock" songs, comes this soaring little number with gentle vocals, tinkering piano, and an addictive sunshine-pop feel.

this is another album you don't want to miss. you have to trust me on this one.
if you haven't already, i demand you go check out their official site (linked to at the top of the page), where they display their apparent sense of humor (you can just really tell from the music) in random, extra pages which are fun and mostly confusing. also available is their myspace, which is a fun and unpredictable place. lastly, keep up with the Barsuk business and they will surely keep you up to date as to buying, downloading, seeing, and loving this band.  shan  8:22 AM  |  view comments (0)