Crazy Clown Time [VINYL]

Whether you like David Lynch or not, one thing you have to admire is his independent spirit and vision. He has a way of making work that couldn't be made by anybody but him. His artistic vision is unique and fascinating and he appears to use whatever medium he feels is appropriate to convey his ideas.

"Crazy Clown Time" is a dark and haunting record that plays well late at night, especially if you're driving. Although this is an album of music you can't help but feel that the songs would fit really well in one of Lynch's films.

For the most part it consists of slow blues rhythms with creepy reverb heavy guitar and distorted vocals from Lynch himself. His voice, instantly recognisable, may or may not put some people off. I personally think it works really well whether he's singing or narrating his lyrics.

Some people have misleadingly mentioned this album being Lynch's attempt at dance music but this isn't the case. Certainly the single Good Day Today has a dance beat but it's too melancholic and strange to fill the dance floor. There are plenty of electronic and ambient touches throughout however but more for atmosphere than anything else.

The production is fantastic and it almost feels like the band is right there with you as you listen. The percussion, whilst slow, is really effective and surprisingly hard hitting, driving the songs along with purpose. The guitar, played by Lynch, adds drama and tension to the laid back bass lines.

Lynch will always be known as a filmmaker first and foremost but this album really stands out as something in its own right and it's a shame that some people may dismiss it as an unnecessary distraction.

If there was one criticism it would be that a few of the tracks sound similar in sound and style but there are plenty of distinctive moments to keep the interest. One review I read online basically said that if you're normally a fan of David Lynch, you'll probably like it. I tend to agree.

That it takes a sixty five year old brilliant film maker to teach the rest of the bland formulaic money minded cretins currently suffocating the creative life out of the music industry, speaks volumes for David Lynch and is a damning indictment of what the majority of contemporary music makers are about in these X Factor and Pop Idol infested days of appallingly bland and functional dross. The 71 minutes of music on this album takes you on a journey to every place known to mankind and equally to places and experiences yet to be explored. From the lows and highs, from the sewers to heaven and back, from the gutters to the brightest stars. To Love, happiness, hell, pain, suffering, elation and misery alike, this record is a remarkable achievement even by the great mans impossibly high standards Crazy Clown time works our minds and senses relentlessly and re lives many points and places within our life times. This record breathes, sweats, bleeds and repeatedly jars the mind into thinking. All that aside, it is a truly great record from a truly great man. Lynch takes you for a 71 stroll around his surreal, brilliant and madcap sound scapes and puts the average stadium rockers well and truly on the scrap heap. High Flying birds, Snow Patrol, Coldplay?
I don't think so and Radiohead need to start looking over their shoulders, with music of this strength, depth and quality around giving us all a very overdue wake up call. This record is absolutely extraordinary in many ways, words, and weirds, and re awakens the human inner self within us,warts and all and from our dull, westernized, screen gazing, consumerist, obsessive life. Senses Working Overtime and Life Changing are just two of this extraordinary records strengths and achievements.
TRUE LIFE is rarely better portrayed than within this immense, complete and incredibly triumphant, all encompassing and real life embracing experience.
PURE GENIUS and then some. 10/10 and THE album of The Year by many a mile. ENJOY REALITY!

Truth-be-told I haven't always warmed to David Lynch's cinematic visions
(although his 1977 feature debut 'Eraserhead' remains a work of dark genius).
The soundtracks to his film and TV work, however, have always fascinated me.
Like the German director Werner Herzog, music has always been an important
adjunct to his labours. 'Crazy Clown Time' is a bit of a surprise, therefore,
in a number of ways. It stands up on its own two feet without the need for
accompanying visual material and although as sombre as one might well expect
from this fearlessly left-field artist it is nonetheless both accessible and
enjoyable in equal measure. Dean Hurley has done a sterling job as producer.

There are fourteen numbers in the collection, running the gamut from near-
nightmare (the claustrophobic 'Noah's Ark') to the almost jolly (crikey you
can shake a leg to 'Good Day Today'!) Mr Lynch provides most of the vocals
himself with a little help from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' singer Karen O (heard in
fine voice on opening track 'Pinky's Dream') and he's clearly enjoying himself.
His nasal, almost-drunken, quasi-comic turn on the grinding 'Football Game' is
an absolute hoot! The guitarist, with a splendid staggering reverb-sodden
performance, seems to be vying with Mr Lynch to see who can stand up longest!
The blues seems to never be too far away in the fabric of the arrangements.
'Strange and Unproductive Thinking' bobs along on a frisky beat and sports
vocal treatments highly redolent of Laurie Anderson (a kindred maverick soul)
and the spirit of Nick Cave is not so far away in the wild-western ghost-town
instrumental 'The Night Bell With Lightening'). Title track 'Crazy Clown Time'
ranks particularly high in the weird-but-wonderful stakes; its unsettling falsetto
vocals unfolding against a four-square backbeat shot through with uneasy
twisted guitar accents and a half-heard commentary which you really wouldn't
want to intrude into your dreams on a cold November night after imbibing too
much Wild Turkey and a bucket-full of Cool Ranch-flavoured tortilla chips!
Final track 'She Rise Up' is the stuff of lonely streets and long shadows.

Whilst not being the kind of album you might want to listen to just before bedtime,
Mr Lynch's idiosyncratic musical landscapes will doubtless find their place in
the listening world and amongst the many fans of his works for the silver screen.

Recommended.