Scooby-Doo. No matter how much they repeated the formula, it still kept me glued to my seat as a wee one. Of course, once I hit a critical mass of mental reasoning, the overuse of masks caused me to move on to more sophisticated Saturday morning material. Experimental Dental School, with its heavy use of organ sounds, relishes in the sounds of a Scooby-Doo haunted house. However, recognizing their inspiration's penchant for repetition, they make valiant efforts toward unpredictability. While they are content to hold onto unifying musical threads more than Fantomas' also-cartoon inspired Suspended Animation, this is certainly not a melodically-driven album. If anything, 2 1/2 Creatures is a prog attempt at recapturing the sounds of youth. Unfortunately, it lacks the intriguing bewilderment that an album like Suspended Animation evokes, while lacking the gratification of pop songs that leave a lasting memory. Where Experimental Dental School succeed is in a wealth of familiar-yet-contorted retro sounds. At that, this is certainly an album that sounds inviting, with nostalgia, sophisticated musical interplay and a sense of levity about the proceedings. In the final assessment, 2 1/2 Creatures is certainly worth a few listens, but after more than a few spins, like Scooby Doo, even the "unpredictability" seems to fall in to a certain homogeneity, making it difficult to give an unequivocal recommendation of the album.
Scooby-Doo. No matter how much they repeated the formula, it still kept me glued to my seat as a wee one. Of course, once I hit a critical mass of mental reasoning, the overuse of masks caused me to move on to more sophisticated Saturday morning material. Experimental Dental School, with its heavy use of organ sounds, relishes in the sounds of a Scooby-Doo haunted house. However, recognizing their inspiration's penchant for repetition, they make valiant efforts toward unpredictability. While they are content to hold onto unifying musical threads more than Fantomas' also-cartoon inspired Suspended Animation, this is certainly not a melodically-driven album. If anything, 2 1/2 Creatures is a prog attempt at recapturing the sounds of youth. Unfortunately, it lacks the intriguing bewilderment that an album like Suspended Animation evokes, while lacking the gratification of pop songs that leave a lasting memory. Where Experimental Dental School succeed is in a wealth of
familiar-yet-contorted retro sounds. At that, this is certainly an album that sounds inviting, with nostalgia, sophisticated musical interplay and a sense of levity about the proceedings. In the final assessment, 2 1/2 Creatures is certainly worth a few listens, but after more than a few spins, like Scooby Doo, even the "unpredictability" seems to fall in to a certain homogeneity, making it difficult to give an unequivocal recommendation of the album.
1. Our Blood Is Laughing
2. Oakland Lake Legz (Got Their Way)
3. Po!son Reverb
4. Be Nice 2 Mankind
5. Your Tearz are My Ice Cream
6. Springs Have Sprung
7. Shake of the Lambz Tail
8. Looks Like Noize
9. A Dirty Birdie Told Me
10. Bermuda Triangle Mind
11. Skinny Rabbit, Fat Rabbit
12. 2nd Wing
13. A Seal is a Sharks Meal
14. Pink Metal
15. Don't Cry Your Eyes Out
More about: Experimental Dental School
