playlist artwork#12 this weekPedigree Joey

by Trolley

Tracks

1 7:09 423 listens
2 5:22 237 listens
3 5:27 184 listens
4 7:05 117 listens
5 3:39 108 listens
6 4:31 88 listens
7 6:02 99 listens
8 7:01 90 listens
9 6:08 81 listens
10 3:14 89 listens

About this album

  • Updated: 23/09/2008

Aha, the uber-challenging "Pedigree Joey".

The "difficult second album"

While I still have a great fondness for this extensive marathon of an album, I do realise that some of its songs may not be too easy on the casual listener's ears. ("Hoovod" being undoubtedly the major case in point - Why did I choose that as the opening track??).

Pedigree Joey's "difficult" nature comes from the fact that it was written and constructed in a blur of depression, recreational drugs, ridiculous sleep deprivation (try a week with no sleep, and then write a song!) coupled with loss of employment and therefore a hell of a lot of free time.

"Pedigree Joey" is the sound of a descent into temporary madness, and veers chaotically through multiple tempo changes, gives a new meaning to the phrase "genre-hopping" and rarely keeps its mind on one thing for more than 30 seconds.

There are moments of comparitive relief however.  "Orange" is a lump in the throat harpsichord ballad for the drum 'n' bass crowd, with soft-rock leanings.  "The Tait" holds a coherent train of thought for the majority of its 4 and a half minutes, and "New Man" sounds... well... like Numan of course.

My personal favs however would be "Joey", with its minimalist, warped and lethargic crawl which ever so slowly builds to quite a full and rich baroque climax - ... "Jahs" is the defining moment for me, where the chaos all came into its own, short, snappy and tense - Organised mayhem.  And i'm still rather proud of the anthemic foot-stomping riot that makes up the closing portion of  "Pardrais".

I hope that someone enjoys this, as I absolutely love its impossibly dense nature - Though it may not be the best starting point in the Trolley repertoire (Try "Very Plath" first instead, then come back to Joey).

Matt

HI RES COVER ARTWORK SCANS:

FRONT & BACK OF BOOKLET

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/MATTSAYERS/TROLLEY/pedigreejoeybookletjpg.jpg

BACK COVER

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/MATTSAYERS/TROLLEY/pedigreebacksleeve.jpg

INSIDE UNDERNEATH CD TRAY

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/MATTSAYERS/TROLLEY/pedigreejoeyinletundertrayinside.jpg

CD LABEL

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/MATTSAYERS/TROLLEY/pedigreejoeycd.jpg

The tracks of this album are published under a Creative Commons licence, check the licence associated to each track.

Reviews for "Pedigree Joey"

2 reviews


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Ivan1984

What more could one want?

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Ivan1984 • 2008-10-14 22:22:36

Hoovod appears before you, a deep warbling and even deeper bass, with a lighter melody over the top. The switches are reminiscent of Jarre, nice. A grumbling noise intensifies and then percussion guides your way. There's madness here in a general sense, intensity, sometimes almost comes over as frustration. Or am I projecting? Anyway, music as therapy... cool!-) Midway the track really comes into its own, there's a lot going on, which crescendos here and there. Quite manic now, almost angry. Then it suddenly changes into a more easily acceptable track again. I love the variations. Chimer is right there from the start and is a cool conglomeration of noise, a happy piece of work it seems, whimsical in certain places. Wholesome amount of variation within the track, which I always like. Two minutes in and it's kicking butt nicely done. Then it goes full blast for a bit and dies down again, re-establishing itself, its' balance. Again, one listen is not enough to absorb all the variables involved. Lots of fine percussion at the end was a nice finish to a kicking track. Orange sounds profound from the start, more serious than the previous track. Lots of nice synth work, matched by piano chords, the keyboards almost have a harpsichord effect and feel. Percussion and supporting background sounds fill your brain, only to slip into yet another variation on the theme of the piece. About halfway through it meets its height and alters its stance somewhat. Nice round up at the end. New man starts with some mental synthetic sounds, then brings in supporting melodies. The rhythm has been set and is soon joined by percussion and more melody construction. Working out well so far. There is a nice confident, relaxed atmosphere to this track in particular. It's well accomplished, accessible. About centre mark there is a slight change in tone and use of material, then it storms back into a crescendo of all that has gone on so far. This time a climax at the end! Well sustained and then finished off with that lovely techno flair. Jahs has a percussive start, seems a bit random at first but the bass comes in and sorts things out perfectly well. Lighter melody layers are added to complete the picture more. Quite a jolly track in a way, nice instrumental electronic music, or noise if you prefer. Again even in such an essentially simple framework, it has been stuffed to the brim with variation. The Tait is all keyboards to begin with, making nice melodies interweave. Then the rhythmic structure is dropped into place and up goes the pace. Extra synth sounds add to the tidy mix, lovely soundscaping. Soundscaping. Soundsculpting... Another track packed full of goodies. Genie establishes itself fairly quickly with percussion and lower toned melodies immediately in play. Synth warping and wefting begin building the track up. Nice switches again from each section, each different, each differently. A strong percussive break takes us to the midpoint and a slightly skewed keyboard melody structure begins to evolve and grow, bit by bit, all very compatible. Then all the ingredients are thrown in for some nourishing musical stew. Pardrais is melody and rhythm first in together, instant track, with vague almost haunting sounds resounding. Then a form of solo, almost saxaphone like and return to the main track. More variations of the theme are offered. Then suddenly there's a kicking bassline and the track motors along nicely and finishes very well. Joey. Is a lovely track, has an atmosphere of not happiness or resignation, but somewhere in between the two. There are some cool touches between vocalisations, as they seemed. Then melody joins the 'voices'. Then the track seems to darken, almost sinister and still nicely put together as the whole album seems to me to be. In fact, it's been a pleasure throughout. I couldn't fathom anyone who couldn dislike it. The sidesteps made are so seamless that you suddenly realise you are hearing something completely different even though it's the same track and it happens so easily. ... Eiffel Irv flies into action, very assertive and bold. "I am this track and if you don't like it, you know what you can do!" It develops and bonds so well. Short but sweet. I know that this album was explained above by trolley, but I like to compare notes, in a manner of speaking, so how did my experience compare with trolley? All I will say is that I enjoyed the album immensely. Thanks. Genre wise... techno yes, experimental... done well, noise... good noise, industrial... wouldn't have really thought so, insane(ly) brilliant album, definitely!-)
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