Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Track Listings
| 1. Rolling (Kiss the Universe) |
| 2. You Wish You Were Red |
| 3. Dies in 55 |
| 4. Engelhardt's Arizona |
| 5. Los Angered |
| 6. Starlatine |
| 7. Candy Girl |
| 8. Strangling Good Guys |
| 9. Black Circle |
| 10. Turkish Heights |
Product Description
Product Description
`Ester' neatly combines elements including the dream pop of Beach House, the sweet nocturnal melancholy of The xx and the sonic exploration of My Bloody Valentine to form an album that's streets apart from any of its contemporaries.
It's a great achievement that from the first listen makes it apparent that a lot of people are about to fall in love with this band.
Product Description
CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Crawton Leek
Format:Audio CD
Some artists have a willful tendency to begin their albums with a track wholly at odds with the rest of their offerings. Sparklehorse, for example, came down with a case of the screaming emos at the start of the heart-melting Good Morning Spider, whilst JJ's Jj Nº 3 began a blissfully light-filled record with a moment of bleak darkness.
Give the opening track of Trailer Trash Tracys' debut longplayer a listen and one might expect them to be an unholy exercise in freeform psychedelic funktronica - a prospect sure to pique curiosity and turn stomachs in equal measure.
As it pans out, though, 'Ester' is actually a delightful run of mellow electronica and twanging guitar, topped off by echo-drenched laconic female vocals, a la Stereolab, Saint Etienne and the aforementioned JJ. Swoon and sway are the order of the day and they deliver in spades, the vocals luscious yet distant whilst the guitar accompaniment throbs gently along, reminiscent of Julee Cruise's 'Falling' - never more so than on stand-out track 'Candy Girl', which would not be out of place in Twin Peaks.
Whilst it gets a lot right, this is not a perfect album. The production is of the 'everything loud' school, which leaves precious little room for the tunes to breathe, whilst the songs themselves begin to sound a little samey after a while. Perhaps if they'd spread a little of the wanton creativity that is on show in the first track, the album as a whole would have benefited.
There is no doubt, though, that 'Ester' is an excellent debut which comes with a hearty recommendation to anyone with a soft spot for spaced-out indietronica.... Read more ›
Give the opening track of Trailer Trash Tracys' debut longplayer a listen and one might expect them to be an unholy exercise in freeform psychedelic funktronica - a prospect sure to pique curiosity and turn stomachs in equal measure.
As it pans out, though, 'Ester' is actually a delightful run of mellow electronica and twanging guitar, topped off by echo-drenched laconic female vocals, a la Stereolab, Saint Etienne and the aforementioned JJ. Swoon and sway are the order of the day and they deliver in spades, the vocals luscious yet distant whilst the guitar accompaniment throbs gently along, reminiscent of Julee Cruise's 'Falling' - never more so than on stand-out track 'Candy Girl', which would not be out of place in Twin Peaks.
Whilst it gets a lot right, this is not a perfect album. The production is of the 'everything loud' school, which leaves precious little room for the tunes to breathe, whilst the songs themselves begin to sound a little samey after a while. Perhaps if they'd spread a little of the wanton creativity that is on show in the first track, the album as a whole would have benefited.
There is no doubt, though, that 'Ester' is an excellent debut which comes with a hearty recommendation to anyone with a soft spot for spaced-out indietronica.... Read more ›
By Gannon
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fears already exist for the future of Trailer Trash Tracys. Sure, their debut LP Ester houses some choice tunes, but the majority of these were written a few years ago and the more modern remainder just doesn't carry the same weight ... but away with such negativity for now.
For, offering more than a glimmer of hope, the recent and Raveonettes-reminiscent "Dies In 55" bucks this trend, running quiet riot with twinkling arpeggios, sugary retro-futurist equipment and unsubtle machine-gun rips from a prominent electronic drum. So too do the compressed beat of "Starlatine", its otherworldly percussion and dreamy speaker-to-speaker shifts that suggest tripping out on Mazzy Star records.
Unfortunately, elsewhere, despite what must be a conscious effort to diversify, certain experiments fall flat. Lacking cohesion, "Engelhardt's Arizona" is an overlong exercise in disparately skewed synth and aggressive drum chirrups that flail wildly in the mix rather than with real impact. Later, "Black Circle" suffers from the same problem while its bubbling bassline feels kind of nauseous, but not in a good way.
Another issue is that some tracks seem little more than badly recalled echoes of Ester's better material - see the beleaguered "Los Angered" for proof. And then there's the unnecessarily re-recorded version of the formerly striking "Strangling Good Guys". As a result, this slightly blunted edit has lost some of its crumpled shoegaze thrust, but luckily not so much as to render the track entirely impotent.
Happily, Ester mostly manages to bury its minuses however, as the shadow cast by its high points forgives that which is consigned to the shade.... Read more ›
For, offering more than a glimmer of hope, the recent and Raveonettes-reminiscent "Dies In 55" bucks this trend, running quiet riot with twinkling arpeggios, sugary retro-futurist equipment and unsubtle machine-gun rips from a prominent electronic drum. So too do the compressed beat of "Starlatine", its otherworldly percussion and dreamy speaker-to-speaker shifts that suggest tripping out on Mazzy Star records.
Unfortunately, elsewhere, despite what must be a conscious effort to diversify, certain experiments fall flat. Lacking cohesion, "Engelhardt's Arizona" is an overlong exercise in disparately skewed synth and aggressive drum chirrups that flail wildly in the mix rather than with real impact. Later, "Black Circle" suffers from the same problem while its bubbling bassline feels kind of nauseous, but not in a good way.
Another issue is that some tracks seem little more than badly recalled echoes of Ester's better material - see the beleaguered "Los Angered" for proof. And then there's the unnecessarily re-recorded version of the formerly striking "Strangling Good Guys". As a result, this slightly blunted edit has lost some of its crumpled shoegaze thrust, but luckily not so much as to render the track entirely impotent.
Happily, Ester mostly manages to bury its minuses however, as the shadow cast by its high points forgives that which is consigned to the shade.... Read more ›
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Most of this album is like the best bits of The xx and Beach House with a much needed hard drum machine edge. What's not to like about that? Check out Strangling Good Guys and You Wish You Were Red for some highlights.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Hill
Format:Audio CD
I bought this having heard 3 pretty good tracks via the internet but unfortunately they turned out to be the best 3 tracks on the album and the rest is very average at best.
"You wish you were red" and "candy girl" have some great twin peaks inspired twangy guitar backed with some nice echoey female vocals plus "strangling good guys" has a splendid MBV riff to please your ears but that's about it, the remaining songs are just run of the mill twiddly electronica with the same spaced out vocals.
Download the best, forget the rest.
"You wish you were red" and "candy girl" have some great twin peaks inspired twangy guitar backed with some nice echoey female vocals plus "strangling good guys" has a splendid MBV riff to please your ears but that's about it, the remaining songs are just run of the mill twiddly electronica with the same spaced out vocals.
Download the best, forget the rest.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By the gardener
Format:Audio CD
It is very easy to hear the influence of the Cocteau Twins in this album. The issue I have is that Susanne (who has a lovely voice) is somewhat drowned out by the over produced backing tracks. I named this a tale of two albums as listening to it through speakers does not do anything for this album - listen to it through your mp3 and Susannes voice is much clearer and makes this an album to listen to again and again...so lets hear more of Susanne and less of the noise
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
