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Ropechain
by Grampall Jookabox
This is the second album for the Indiana-born musician.
| LABEL: |
Asthmatic Kitty |
| RELEASE DATE: |
04 November 2008 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rock, Experimental, Indie |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
All Music Guide
Adamson's heady blend of Odelay-era Beck, Roky Erickson paranoia, cosmic hip-hop, and general Animal Collective weirdness sounds like a train wreck in print, but his knack for odd melodies, stealthy programming, timely pitch-shifting, and macabre (and occasionally hysterical) subject matter helps to keep things consistently interesting throughout Ropechain's easily digestible 45-minute runtime.
80
Delusions of Adequacy
It’s great music and it clearly showcases the fact that Grampall Jookabox should have a steady and successful career ahead of him.
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
What places Ropechain, Grampall’s second release for Sufjan Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label, above its emotionally vacant peers is a willingness to trade drugged-out euphoric rambling with tangible anxiety.
80
Uncut
For all his experimentalism, Adamson never once loses sight of the song. [Dec 2008, p.94]
70
Village Voice
With Ropechain, the emotional turnaround's reversed: An initial, burning desire to hate everything about this album--the stylistic mish-mash, the artistic blackface, the blah cover art--gives way to wary admiration, even though it's hard to shake the sense that its creator's something of a jerk.
70
musicOMH.com
Absurdly entertaining, and quite disturbing, Ropechain will most certainly not be to the tastes of many. But it must be admired for its originality and brain-shakingly ridiculous beauty.
60
Prefix Magazine
Ropechain is sometimes frustrating bordering on indulgent, but it also depicts, without censorship, Adamson’s unique process and point of view.
60
Urb
Eccentricity is what defines Grampall Jookabox and their sophomore effort Ropechain, but that doesn’t make it any less listenable. In fact, Ropechain has its fair share of fine musical moments that actually benefit from the bizarre tendencies of the group.
60
Mojo
Fans of mavericks like Mark Stewart, and indeed Mr. Van Vilet, should investigate. [Feb 2009, p.109]
54
Pitchfork
Good ideas lurk throughout the album, but they either disappear under the weight of too much echo and overdubbing, or get pushed aside as a result of what I'd imagine is either a lack of discipline or dissenting voice during the creative process.
The average user rating for this album is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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