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Album Reviews - The Murky World of
Seats
www.adequacy.net
(Rochester, NY, USA) - Almost all the Garlic reviews I skimmed over
noted the, most-apparent, influence Pavement has had on this band.
But rather than dwell on they're pseudo-musical-plagiarism with my
pseudo-plagiaristic-reviewing, or mock their ridiculous aesthetics
and CD title, I will focus on the positive aspects of the band.
First off, Pavement is a hell of a lot better band to imitate than a
lot of other bands that are out there. Second, Mike Wyzgowski has a
sense of pop melody that is better than average. Third, and perhaps
most importantly, the songs are fun to listen to. I suppose
"Pavement cover-band" may have been a tad harsh, as Garlic
integrates the ever-popular country twang into various tracks
throughout their CD, somewhat personalizing their sound. One of
those twanged tracks would be the first song, "Animals," which is a
slower number that is about, as Kid Rock might put it, only god
knows what. With the somber keyboards in the background, the
strumming acoustic and the previously mentioned twang, the song
certainly emits sadness. But from the lyrics I can't find any reason
why it should. "Late night / Fist Fight / Stealing cars and rights /
The animosity are out of school again / The animals are looking cool
again." "Wheel Set" is the catchiest track of the lot. It loses the
alt-country feel, and focuses on clear-cut pop. A nifty robotic
sounding keyboard sucks you in right off the bat, allowing no leeway
for the listener to form a negative impression. By the time the
"Oohh-EE-EE" chorus comes around, you are already tapping your feet.
This is definitely the single of the album. "Pigs" sounds like some
type of Rolling Stone's reformation of "You Can't Always Get What
You Want," only rewritten to apply to the swine listeners. "Slave to
the Summer, Son" is an upbeat track that, if your not careful, may
cause you to forget how damn off-center this band is. "Doorstop
Nominees" starts off with christmas-sounding keyboards, then towards
the middle, it starts to remind me of a juvenile Cake. "Grey Bear"
follows the trend of every fifth song being titled about animals.
It's another track that is incredibly stupid, but you still love it,
and it makes you smile. Wyzgowski doesn't stray from his semi-rapped
vocals as he tells the story of a late-night visit to the bar,
turned Dr. Phil soul searching. Apparently, the twelfth track, "Not
Over Yet," was a big smash that Wyzgowski penned for some other band
oversees. Garlic re-did it, and it fails to impress me. I
accidentally found the secret track too! It's not really fit for a
secret track though, as it doesn't have enough fun. It just rambles
on through previous material, again like Kid Rock. (Maybe some other
time, on a shorter review I will delve into my expectations for a
secret track.) So in spite
of the uncanny resemblance to Pavement, the ridiculous CD title and
art, the terribly strung together lyrics, and the quirky nature of
this entire project, I still can say that I enjoyed this album. Most
likely this is due to the pre-drawn formula they followed, yet
certainly some credit is due to Garlic, as they slapped their own
label, albeit faint, onto the sound. All in all, I can't deny that I
thoroughly enjoyed the second track, and the rest of them are pretty
fun too. - Joe, 1/20/03 I'm sorry,
I'm being facetious. This isn't Pavement, although it might be hard
to pick it on first listen. Garlic are, in fact, a seven piece from
the UK, and 'The Murky World Of Seats' is a damn fine album in its
own right - but the ghost of their primary slacker influence is
rattling some pretty audible chains.The poppy Courgette is an
absolute dead ringer for the 'Ment, as is the gentle,
lap-steel-infused Pig. Slave To The Summer; Son has the same waggish
rock-out charm of Stereo and vocalist Mike Wyzgowski has the same
breathy drawl and penchant for a stream-of-consciousness lyric as
Malkmus (just listen to Little Wreckage and try not to picture
Steven's lanky frame at the mic). Mind you,
it's not all Pavement-isms: the splendid Wheels Set is a sprightly
guitar pop tune not unlike a very perky Seafood, and the opening
Animals is a Sparklehorse-style piano'n'pedal steel ballad. And
while they lose points for having a secret track a few minutes after
the end of Our Generation (that's just so 1993), they win them back
by it being a gentle alternate version of Wheels Set. Yes, they
sound like their influences - but since that's not stopped people
taking an interest in slavish copyists like The Strokes and The
Vines, it shouldn't stop you from exploring 'The Murky World Of
Seats'. - Sept 02 - Andrew P Street www.gloriousnoise.com (Chicago) -
Garlic - The Murky World of Seats (Bella Union) - Garlic just tries too hard
to prove their indie rock chops: the funny/clever/obscure lyrics,
the jangly/noisy/monotone guitars, a pedal steel, weird-o sound
effects, time changes, a whining vocalist with a bad Lou Reed
inferiority complex, etc., etc., etc. I played a bit of this for
Phil Wise and he said he heard some Pavement in the best cut on the
album, "Slave to the Summer, Son." You can pick up a hundred other
influences here too, and that's why this disc fails. Garlic is a
band with great potential, as yet unrealized. I'd like to see these
guys perform live and discover their true heart and soul, because I
don't hear it on this record. - Jeff Sabatini, February 11,
2003. www.ink19.com (Florida) - Garlic - The Murky World of
Seats - Bella Union -
Just in
time for the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and
having read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in a crash course
of a week, I found Garlic's release to be an oddly strange match for
Tolkien's epic. Indulge me a bit and imagine if those zany hobbits,
Merry, Sam, Pippin and Frodo had actually come of age in the mid
'90s, and rocked out in the Shire listening to Pavement, The Pixies,
Neil Young and even Lou Reed. Why, they might have cooked up the
tracks that appear on Garlic's debut release, The Murky World of
Seats. The disc
opens with the laid back piano ballad "Animals," which resembles
such indie luminaries as Grandaddy with the strange lines "The
animals are looking cool again, this night; we might as well as
close the school again." It is a strange little opening track that
serves as red herring for the listener as those who expect more of
the same will certainly be surprised by the remainder of the album.
Perchance, hidden in these wise and witty lyrics scattered
throughout this album there lurks a wise narrator skewering the
pretense and airs of the indie cognoscenti? Yet Garlic doesn't limit
themselves to such myopia as the closed-mindedness of various
scenes, they address such perennial themes as life after death
("Wheel Set"), the evilness of work ("Cour Gette"), greed ("Pig"),
soccer ("Drink Induced Conversations"), and the club scene ("Grey
Bear"). Stylistically then, they sprawl all over the indie rock map,
picking up various styles but there are solid comparisons to be made
to Crooked Rain-era Pavement. What defines their sound so peculiarly
is lead singer Mike Wyzgowski's voice that oscillates between Lou
Reed's speak/singing style and Neil Young's falsetto. In addition,
the pedal steel that accompanies these tracks provides a little bit
more space and accent for these tracks to transcend their clear
stylistic debts. For all the
evidence that they wear their influence on their sleeves, Garlic
certainly makes up for it with passion, wit and style. While on
"Cour Gette," Wyzgowski implores the listener not to waste his or
her time on "Doing shit, shit jobs you don't even like or not at
all." "Slave to the Summer, Son" finds Wyzgowski once again
dispensing advice to the listener asking, "Are you ever going to get
things done?" A rave up that seems a reworking and updating of
Pavement's "Gold Sounds" for the new century. Towards the end of the
album we find them in a straight forward, solemn rocker that evokes
the ghostly spectral voice of Roy Orbison with a paean to lost love.
At times
sincere and perhaps too somber for some, Garlic certainly proves
there are still bands that matter. No matter how many influences
they may wear on their sleeves, they demonstrate sufficient talent
that their own vision is never entirely watered down or diluted. -
Jan 2003 - Terry Eagan Album Review - The Murky World of Seats
Welcome to
Garlic's "Murky World of Seats". And what a strange, but pleasant
world it is, too. Populated with drummers from China, bassists from
Brazil and singers from Scotland. It's a world where the great
American guitar is God and "Downstroke" is the new religion. Nobody
works (too hard), having a good time is high on the agenda, summer's
almost always here and the pubs are usually open. There are thirteen
songs that take you up, down and around their planet. Some are slow,
some are very fast, but most chug along nicely. We creep in gently
to the whispered "Animals"– a song for voice, strummed acoustic and
school mam piano. It's a distant relation to Granddaddy's "He's
Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot". It sets us up nicely
for launching in to the lurching "Wheel Set", a song written with
that "wind in the hair" feeling in mind and comes on like early Fall
with a great childlike keyboard motif. Coming in
third is arguably Garlic's finest moment; the dafly titled
"Courgette". Its here that all their disparate elements come
together in a peach of a song. Pedal steel heaven as Mike Garlic
points out the Garlic manifesto "Don't waste your time doing shit,
shit jobs you don't even like". About two thirds of the way through
the band explode to ensure we're all listening and the two guitars
decide to go every which way but straight. Great!.
A two seconds
breather, a deftly handled false start and we're into "All In the
Name Of Fun"; another great stomp-along with a clever arrangement –
instruments dropping out at random, highlighting the gentle keyboard
undertow. "Pig" slows it down
a bit, pushes Marcus's pedal steal forward again and an air of
caution enters the proceedings; all this fun's is very well and
good, but remember not to overdo it – there's always tomorrow to
enjoy. And talking of
enjoyment, here's "Slave To the Summer, Son" – a big bouncy beach
ball of a pop tune. This is their big hit single in waiting. This is
so good, it should be written in to a people's charter that whatever
the Government, it should be re-released each June. If they played
this on the tube each morning, people would be casting their
briefcases, school bags and piece-bags into the nearest skip and
heading off in search of the closest park to do nothing. The song
employs the classic Pixies' strategy of quiet verse with prowling
bass followed by massive chorus and exploding guitars. It adds on
some brilliant woozy synth and boasts the hilarious lyric "put your
coffee making artistry to such extensive use". Another breather
required with the reflective "Drink Induced Conversation". A
mid-pacer punctuated with some spiralling guitar bursts, a lovely
wee guitar solo in the middle eight and topped off with a bit of
plinky-plonk piano. The same
piano introduces us to "Doorstep Opinions", a slow headbanger that
clocks in at five and a half minutes (the longest song on the
album). Perhaps a plea for understanding of the disenfranchised, the
other side of the fun coin. It fades out with a bit of whistling and
any song with whistling in its okay in my book. "Right Lines"
lurches in next, a gentle ramshackle of a number. It's all soft
snare shuffles and pedal steel. I'd imagine that with the right kind
of beverage inside you, the urge to start waltzing might grab you.
After a waltz, how
about some slamming? Say "hello" to the maelstrom of "Grey Bear".
Woo-Hoo! This is their fastest moment. They hot-wire a charging
Pixies bass line and hurtle through its 2 minutes 50 seconds tales
of drunken abandonment. Cymbals smash and guitars crash in a story
of an afternoon spent getting "so far out of it" in a New York bar.
One of those magic unplanned afternoons that soon becomes night, and
you think you love the world and you believe the world loves you. It
all ends in a crazy place too far and your best friend is climbing
on the bar. After the night
before comes the morning after, "Little Wreckage". Sounding not
unlike Uncle Lou Reed on the second side of "Transformer", all
self-confessional and reflective with a drizzle of guilt. "Not Over
Yet" is their brave take on early 90's House Anthem charted by
Grace. It's blissful, melancholy and slightly claustrophobic. Oddly
out of place but oddly affecting, perhaps it should have been the
album's closer. Instead, that task
is given to "Our Generation", their self confessed Radiohead (circa
The Bends) song. (Fake Garlic Trees?). Again it seems slightly out
of place, but I don't think you'd ever accuse Garlic of genre
hopping. What they do always seems heartfelt and still ends up
sounding like Garlic. And this is no exception. Ghost like, guitars
set to "phased" and a tap-dripping piano. An elegy to possibility.
After a four minutes
silence, we have another visit of "Wheel Set". This time it's the
New Orleans, slightly drunken jazzy cousin of the North London indie
kid we met earlier. Where before we had electric guitars and pop
keyboard, we now have acoustic and parping brass. If nothing else,
it's an example of the strength of the song writing. Whatever the
style, whatever the instruments, the songs still stand up.
So that's it, 13
(plus one) songs clocking in, on average, at less than 4 minutes
each. Taking us to some exciting and pleasant places. As they say on
the door, "Garlic or boredom, you cant have both!" - W.Yellay July
2001
What Garlic may lack
in depth they compensate for in variations of range and
pace, not forgetting a refreshing inkling for occasional
silliness. Grey Bear could be described as a fast Dude
Lebowski-slack Frank Black & The Catholics + Weezer
affair with jingling cymbals and chugging guitars.
Animals is a lovely Neil Young fronting eels tale with a
delicious steel guitar, about those little teenage
tracksuit-clad arsewipes who steal cars, smash phone box
windows, set fires on train station platforms for their
own amusement. Vocalist Mike Wyzgowski suggests they all
be shot on sight, a bit of a Daily Mail extreme reaction
but attention grabbing nonetheless. At the wonkier end
of the scale, Wheel Set is a jaunty and fun funeral song
with a Lou Reed style vocal and grinningly stupid cuckoo
clock sound FX. Courgette is a hybrid of IRS-era REM and
Grandaddy, the lyric "Don't waste your time doing
shit/Shit jobs you don't even like" summing up both the
song and the band’s laid back/life should be fun ethos
appropriately followed by All In The Name Of Fun, which
is a bouncing Hefner-style indiepop number that could
all to easily (and regrettably) find its way onto the
next series/soundtrack of Teachers. The anti-greed
lilting alt-country melancholia of Pig politely requests
to the world "Take what you need and put the rest back"
while contradictory album highlight Slave To The Summer,
Son succeeds in being simultaneously apathetically
summer-lazy and intently hard-hitting, warped
synth-sickly shimmering rhythms and a rambunctiously
paced Pavement-esque guitar-heavy chorus that would have
resulted in a massive indie anthem had it been a single
in 1995. Keeping you on your toes, Not Over Yet will
incur much head-scratching ‘this sounds familiar from
someplace’ confusion until the surprise of the instantly
recognisable chorus kicks in; the song was originally
co-written by Paul Oakenfold and a Top Ten hit in it’s
alternative existence as house dance-floor-filler of a
few years back. Did someone say ‘gimmicky cover
version’? It’s not nearly as awful as the stuff on the
NME/Warchild: 1 Love charity effort so we’ll let Garlic
off with a caution (this time).
Culminating with the
creepy atmosphere of the tinkling piano and gently
oscillating brood of Our Generation, The Murky World of
Seats is musical Radox, a decent and effective
stress-reliever that is sufficiently warm and enveloping
to keep autumnal chills at bay. - 21/01/2003 - Ash
Pocock
MOJO - Garlic - The Murky World of
Seats (Bella Union) - UK sextet with a certain lo-fi
American flavour and bizarre link with Top 5 dance
smash - You wouldn't know it by this
drizzly version, but Not Over Yet was a 1995 handbag-house
smash for Grace, co-written in a former life by Garlic founder
Mike Wyzgowski and Rob 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' Davis.
Their melody suggests a pop-centric brain; indeed, Garlic's
debut album is wall-to-wall hooks and melodic crannies. The
problem is, they are mostly Stephen Malkmus's hooks and
crannies, likewise the ownership of Wyzgowski's sly, whiny
vocal and precise settings. Malkmus should feel suitably
stalked, but if this was his second solo album, fans would
swoon. True, the ex-Pavement artist never favoured so much
pedal steel as this, and the hidden, country version of Wheel
Set points to a sound that's mostly Garlic's own. But why
Wyzgowski feels justified otherwise is the real murky
question. - Martin Aston. Nov 02 XFM - Garlic
‘The Murky World of Seats’ (Bella Union) - An album
containing a tune called ‘Drink Induced Conversation’
is bound to catch the eye of any member of the Xfm Breakfast
Show. And
lucky that it did - after a noisy, fuzzy summer it's as
refreshing as cold lager to hear a bit of quirky, whimsical
pop again. There's
plenty on offer here besides the single ‘Not Over Yet’,
which as surely everyone knows by now was originally written
by Garlic frontman Mike Wyzgowski. ‘Slave to
the Summer, Son’ has future single written all over it, so
buy this now and bore your friends with how you were into them
first. And catch a gig as well if you can - Garlic rock live.
Chris Smith www.allmusic.com - The Murky World of Seats is a
revelation. The shambolic, fractured, and melodic charms of
Garlic's debut album are impossible to deny, and vocalist Mike
Wyzgowski's voice is the next best thing to or perhaps even
superior to Lou Reed's nasal inflections. Musically, fuzzy
abstract rock guitars rule the day, and influences as broad as
the aforementioned Reed, Built to Spill, the Pixies, Neil
Young, Pavement, Grandaddy, Sonic Youth, and Sparklehorse
mingle and mix to create an entirely original sound. These
influences make for a consistently excellent and compelling
listen. "Not Over Yet" sounds like a Neil Young song tackled
by Black Francis; "Doorstop Nominees" feels like Lou Reed
fronting Pavement, as noisy squalor and a complete lack of
pretension make for a modern classic; "All in the Name of Fun"
sums up the song and the album to a T, as a storming swagger
and punchy drums form one of the most irreverently moody rock
songs this side of the Rock*A*Teens. It's really quite
remarkable how much Wyzgowski's voice feels like a blend of
Neil Young and Lou Reed ; it's to the point where fans of
either of those classic artists will instantly take to Garlic.
That Garlic attacks every note with a simultaneous fervor and
subtlety not found in some of the band's inspirations adds
cohesion to an album that could have otherwise flown off the
handle due to its influence-surfing. If the album has an
identity crisis, it's a magnificent one. One can only hope
that Garlic will continue to operate in the rare, perfect air
of The Murky World of Seats. - Tim DiGravina Marie
Claire - This Scots band has already supported New Order and
penned a top ten Oakenfold hit. And, though fame might elude
them, their debut LP is an intriguing proposition. Twisted
tunes sung by an alt-country slacker and peppered by beautiful
steel guitar melodies. 3/5 - Oct 2002 Gill Sutherland
www.noripcord.co.uk - Garlic
"The Murky World Of Seats" (Bella Union)Quirky, left of centre... No,
don't go yet! Yes you've heard these words before and they
usually translate as "No songs, shit", but this is an
exception. If you can, try to imagine Lou Reed singing
Pavement songs, being joined occasionally by Neil Young and
Grandaddy. That would be a fair approximation of Garlic and
their Alt. American rock strangeness. Oh, and don't forget to
throw in the slide guitar too. The
Murky World Of Seats is an album of hidden gems and
refreshingly inventive twists and turns, but always retaining
a skewed sense of melody. It even has a "hit" single, in the
shape of Slave To The Summer, Son, if only it was played on
the radio more, then maybe it would be a bona fide hit, rather
than the dreaded "cult" variety. The final and most surprising
twist comes close to the end, with Not Over Yet. If any of you
are house heads, then you will have heard the track whilst
being beaten by the bass at any half decent club. The song
here is a drastically different version to the one that Paul
Oakenfold is credited (although greatly exaggerated) as a
co-writer. So an
intriguing story, with a twisted soundtrack and a curious
future, we need more character in our music today and Garlic
have many of those necessary ingredients. 7/10 - Sept
2002 Mark Mason God alone knows what's going on with the
sleeve, depicting various fashionable or should that be
questionable chairs from the last century you wonder straight
away whether some tongue in cheek arty statement is being made
or whether this is going to be some kind of abstract
expedition of harmonies. Thankfully, and after much ponderance
on the subject, it's both, or is it? 'The world of murky seats' doesn't exactly
sit uncomfortably, it just sits and makes you feel
uncomfortable, difficult to pigeonhole, which hey, is good
isn't it. Thirteen tracks that weave together wrestling
beneath your skin, unmistakably akin to the aforementioned
Pavement but pausing to pitch itself somewhere between the
goofy delivery of Element and the warped view of every day
life of Half Man Half Biscuit, now in the cool stakes that is
as cool as cool gets. Oozing relaxed harmonies, Garlic busy
themselves with collecting together rhythms and styles that
logically shouldn't fit but in their wayward presentation hit
the bulls eye all to often 'Wheel set' is a rumbustuous wildcat
dressed in odd time sequences and off kilter keyboards that
intermittently flies out of control from its loopy axis just
when you least expect it, cutely sprinkled in a bashful splash
of slide guitars treatments. 'Cour Gette' along with the dynamic 'Slave
to the summer, son' perfectly transpose the philosophy of
Pavement to perfection, both edging that kind of smoothly fed
countrified priceless pop, that is both lazily delivered and
neatly executed, two shining examples of daydream dalliance.
By the time you get to 'All in the name of fun' your recalling
Hefner's tinted attitude to life, there's no doubt that they
certainly have an ear for awkward though memorably arranged
pop. 'Pig' cements the Hefner similarities, the melancholic
sounds are glossed by cryptic lyrics that bear a sarcastic
tone that act at odds to the chirpy-sad backdrop of the
melodies, perhaps recalling style wise the Smiths 'Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now'. 'Drink induced conversations' originally
featured on the debut single is one of those true to life
nightmares that more often occur when you've partaken of the
alcoholic varieties a little too much, and boy have I been
there on many an embarrassing moment. Perfectly pinpointing
the traditional blood brothers across the bar stool mentality.
An anarchic alcoholics anthem if ever there was one.
'Grey Bear' will have you grooving your
little socks off while 'Not over yet' will have you crying and
flag waving at the same time. Parting the scene with the
luscious 'Our Generation' shows that maybe this lot have a sex
appeal side to them after all, spooky midnight mood muzik. Can
it get any better, only their second album will tell. The only
tragi-comedy you'll ever need. Priceless. STOP
PRESS let the CD run on for about five minutes and you get a
blissed out version of 'Wheel Set', damn neat. BY MARK
BARTON
www.playlouder.com - There's lots to arouse suspicion in the
murky world of Garlic. For one thing they've printed on both
the inside and outside of the case: "All tracks written and
played with fervour". The fact that they feel the need to
point out that they"re passionate about what they do should be
a warning, as it is when you come across anything languishing
under the heading of "HUMOUR". Hmm. Said fervour doesn't
exactly bound out of the speakers, either. Abstinence and
moderation are the by-words in this catalogue of intense,
inversely hedonistic dithering. Yards of infinite, inoffensive
bumbling and everything so hushed you could hear a mouse yawn.
Having said that, perplexingly, it ain't bad. Achingly
Pavement-ish with the odd cheeky Weezer flash (viz the rather
stonking 'Grey Bear'), 'The Murky World Of Seats' is
excruciating at first. The relentless gentleness! The "skewed"
(i.e. just this side of entirely tuneless) vocals! The drums
beating out the tribal rhythm of a geriatric hedgehog crossing
a motorway! But after a while one mellows a bit and sees
through the Smog (groan) to find something complementary to
Lambchop (moan groan). It may be impossible to review it
without using the words "finely" and "crafted", and there's a
nice hint of insurrection in the lyrics once in a while.
"Don't waste your time doing shit shit jobs you don't like!"
advises Mike Wyzgowski in 'Courgette'. Generally he and his
lot are wry and clever and amiable, although the inclusion of
'Not Over Yet' is just frightening, being as it was in its
previous incarnation a breezy chart-house Perfecto track.
Tinkling xylophonics, wagon-train bumpkin guitars and
barely-there basslines abound. In summary, then, If 'The Murky
World Of Seats' doesn't make you want to run a skewer between
your ears, it will lull you into a state of smirking calm.
It's a shifty little creature. Love thy neighbour, it croons,
but make sure thy husband don't find out. 3/? Sept 2002 -
Sarah Bee www.belowthesurface.co.uk - The Murky world of
seats - Garlic do have an uncanny resemblance to
Pavement, that’s unlikely to be a new statement to Garlic, but
the similarities are uncanny and unavoidable. However Pavement
are no longer an ongoing concern and I don’t see anyone else
fighting for their off-kilter Lo-Fi crown so who can blame
Garlic. So if you’re unsure of what’s already been established
Garlic peddle relatively inoffensive rock with strange
melodies that don’t quite sit with each other but somehow
work, in an awkward kind of way. For the most part is fairly
laid back, with a singer who has a likeable but unamazing
voice (Possibly intentional), drifting guitars and the
occasional heavier segue, which are always quickly diminished.
Generally they’re an amiable band, much like Pavement were,
nice to while away an hour or so to after a stressful day and
likely to be releasing popular albums in the independent
charts for many years to come. - July 2002
www.americana-uk.com Garlic "The Murky
World of Seats" (Propylactic Records, 2001) : I'll admit straight off that the latest
record by Garlic has been passed from pillar to post around the site
as no-one particularly took to it, liked the title/cover at all or
knew what to say about it - having ended up with it, and three weeks
of listening later, the rewards by luck begin to pay off. But it has
to be noted that it's one of the strangest hybrids of genres yet -
try and imagine pure pop music with an eighties almost synthetic
feel to it, but then layered sporadically but consistently with
perfectly played steel guitar. Somebody, for instance, described it
as a fusion between Grandaddy and Neil Young, which is fair enough
but kind of misses the synth aspect. Still, it's the songs
themselves that count, and if you can get past the keyboards,
there's a lot to like in the songs - tracks like "Wheel Set" and
"Slave to the Summer, Son" bounce around with neatly off the wall
lyrics (amusing ones at that) and infectious beats, while on the
other side of the fence, "Pig" and "Cour Gette" fall somewhere
between pop and country but are nothing like country-pop. You
definitely won't hear anything else like it this year, and it's an
acquired taste, but from one who was made to listen, the
perseverence does pay off - at times, handsomely. MW - Feb 2002
ALBUM
OF THE WEEK - TEESIDE EVENING GAZETTE - Garlic - The Murky World of
Seats : Watching Garlic is
indeed a life affirming experience. With that in mind matching that
performance ability with an album of equal standing was always going
to be tough. But the magic six-piece from down south have managed it
with aplomb. They pulsate and drive and sound-wise fill the Pavement
shaped hole left when our dear off-kilter leftfield US indie giants
evaporated late last year. That said there's much more to Garlic
than the obvious Pavement comparison. Their songs boast the deadpan
lyrical mastery of Lou Reed, as does some of the hard driven
guitars, and the discomfort and agony of Smog while the pedal steel
guitar add a real touch of class. Garlic stand head and shoulders
above their nearest rivals. For evidence look to All In The Name Of
Fun or Slave To The Summer Son. Add in the band's interpretation of
house classic Not Over Yet - written by Garlic lynchpin Nick - and
you've got an LP with twists, tuns and thrills and spills. 8/10
Matthew Pardo - July 2001 BUZZ:
(South Wales listings mag) - Garlic - The Murky World of Seats
: Despite its dodgy title this debut release is a breezy,
intriguing collection of lo-fi tunes, which come across like
Grandaddy fronted by an energetic Neil Young. Each song hangs off
gorgeous, hazy melodies built around electric guitars, synths and
mind melting pedal steel. The album's highest point has to be
Not Over Yet, a tune
co-written by band frontman Mike Wyzgowski but made famous as a
dance anthem on Perfecto Records. So many bands are trying so hard
with acoustic tunes and no thought, Garlic give them the golden
finger. **** Viggs - August 2001
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