Younger Brother
The Last Days of Gravity
Twisted Records
2007
Tracklist
1 Happy Pills (8:48)
2 All I Want (9:04)
3 Elephant Machine (6:19)
4 Your Friends Are Scary (6:38)
5 I Am A Freak (8:58)
6 Ribbon On A Branch (7:46)
7 Sleepwalker Part One (6:16)
8 Sleepwalker Part Two (5:59)
9 Psychic Gibbon (7:30)
Well, I didn't really like the first younger brother album. There was nothing in it that grabbed my attention. People described it as halfway between Hallucinogen & Shpongle but all I got from it was Simon Posford's disappointing recent output, boring with little real psychedelica just pseudo psy for kids. So my hope for this one were not too high, to be honest I've no idea why I bought it but I'm glad I did. This is more interesting than flock of crap
but that's not saying much. There's some psychedelia but I'm surprised these two guys couldn't do better. Then again, in my opinion they haven't made much decent stuff in the last 10 years (except Prometheus' chilled stuff). This has some nice moments but too much of it sounds like rehashed stuff from yesteryear & I for one was not impressed.
1 Happy Pills
What a great start. A nice chilled out melodic piece dripping with lovely psychedelic nuances. The beats are big but relaxed. Lots of space to move. The more intricate sub beats are nicer & an Indian melody gives way to a really nice 60's lounge melody. The whole track has the feel of a 60's smokers lounge just not crap. Good & well produced. Unfortunately I think they started the album to well & it might be all downhill from here.
2 All I Want
Only the second track & it's started. A sample that really doesn't need to be there. Simon Posford's trade mark stamp is crap samples & right from the start of this we have one. Something about Paranoiacs but it's something that probably sound pretty cool when on acid or something but after a few sober listens just sounds annoyingly childish. The track itself is quite good. The singing is competent if not great & again it gives the atmosphere of 60's rock just more modern.
3 Elephant Machine
Round & round, round & round the samples goes, at first I thought this was the shittiest thing I had ever heard. Ultra cheesy, samples that don't really add much & basically pretty much a pop track from yesteryear given a new coat of paint. But it grew on me, there are some nice touches in there. I think this fills the desire for pop music I have after starving myself of anything mainstream.
Good pop!
4 Your Friends Are Scary
Nice start kind of ambientish then with a melody thatcould be played on anything electronic. Good sounds that feel like they are building to something. The chords played give a melancholic feel which is continued with the guitars & odd psychedelic rain. It slowly builds a bit of energy but never does anything with it
5 I Am A Freak
This track would be nice if it didn't repeat the sample I am a freak I am uniqueso much. The rest of the track is really good. Nice soft trippy weirdness with enough melody & structure to keep me happy but that crap sample (I guess Simon wanted that) fucks it all up. Even the use of guitars is great, the structure's great, the beats are nice & crunchy too. I think my memory of this track is worse than it actually is because I always remember the shit samples but they are not there that much, just the beginning and the end so the middle is pretty good.
6 Ribbon On A Branch
What on Earth is this? Folk rock? For your average EDM listener this may be out there & innovative but for someone brought up on folk this is tired old stuff. It's not bad but still, there is nothing innovative about this, it's just introducing old folk music to new people in a less scary way. Fair enough I suppose but there is better stuff than this released all through the 60's. This reminds me of the pop covers in th 1990's when every song that sounded half decent was a cover from the 60's. I wouldn't be surprised if this was too.
7 Sleepwalker Part One
This is very average mid BPM psytrance with a few influences from a few years ago. There is nothing really to report, nothing particularly good & nothing horrible. Pretty Pedestrian stuff.
8 Sleepwalker Part Two
So why was this worth 2 tracks? Oh it wasn't. Once again this is okay I have no real problem with it but after it's over I can never remember it of have the desire to listen to it again. Dull! Is this really the best they could do?
9 Psychic Gibbon
Finally a great track. After the greatness of the first track then the disappointment that followed I wasn't expecting this.
This is exactly what I would have liked the whole album to be. Interesting & psychedelic without relying on crap samples from past movies. Instead it relies on melodies & structure. It builds it's way up to the vocal which (is not a sample) fits in naturally to the track. Very good stuff, the sort of track I replay after it's finished.
Well, this album is not that good I'm afraid. Typical posford stuff. I wish Benji had put his foot down & said "NO Simon! There will be no crap samples from the TV show you watched last night, it just doesn't go" but he didn't. The samples ruin most of the tracks they are in. and I have no idea what the idea with the sleepwalkers are. Most of this album seems like it's going to reach a wider audience. It seems they have gone the same way as Infected Mushroom but without the horrible vocals from Dudev people haven't got the same scorn. Okay it's a little better done than IM did but still, it's the same direction.
Happy pills & Psychic Gibbon are both fantastic tunes. The rest are not so good & sleepwalker 1 & 2 is a yawn fest.
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i never liked Hallucinogen that much but Younger Brother, Celtic Cross (except the last track which i hated from the beginning and have deleted it from my ipod) still sound amazing. and also i have noticed that when i play younger brother for people who are into classical rock they really like it. 
