Word: beate
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Beyond this fun acoustic funk (of which El Oso has lots), Soul Coughing branches out with the beat on El Oso into realms they've never been before. From the opening of the album, it is clear that the beats will be the most prominent and experimental aspect of the album. The first song, "Rolling," opens with drummer Yuval Gabay pounding a quick, charged drum and bass beat, followed immediately by stand-up bassist Sebastian Steinberg's entrance with low bowed bass notes as keyboardist/sampler-man Mark Di Gli Antoni inserts an eerie, ambient synth line. Electronica is slowly creeping into...
...poetry. As if the pulsating, infectious beat and the endlessly hypnotic layers of sounds weren't enough, Doughty (who, incidentally, studied poetry at New York's New School) masterfully implants probing poetry into every one of Soul Coughing's tunes. Although the words are sometimes cryptic and confusing, as a whole Doughty's lyrics on El Oso weave a massive chain of striking images and seductive rhymes. Just as the music has grown into the perfect amount of experimentation and wackiness, Doughty's lyrics have matured significantly from the fun, lighthearted poetry of Ruby Vroom...
Because Soul Coughing is so elegantly able to meld beats to words, the only places on the album where Soul Coughing obviously falters are the few moments where the music and language do not quite fit together. Occasionally, the lyrics get a little caught up in exorbitant verbosity and leave the music stumbling behind. "St. Louise is Listening" (a song as close to garage rock as Soul Coughing gets) and "Maybe I'll Come Down" (a bland ballad that strains Doughty's voice and listener's patience) are two songs that should have remained poems. In both, a surplus...
Ultimately, the coughing souls we love are at their eloquent best when the music rocks itself and the words flow in to support the body-thumping beat. Luckily, El Oso is primarily filled with witty lyrics rapturously entwining themselves around multitextured sounds and heavy, beatific beats. Listening to Soul Coughing, all senses are fulfilled--the body throbs to the beat and the mind pulses to the poetry. Thank heaven for small miracles and for this chance to dance, dance, dance...
...best: fun lyrics incorporated into a driving, though not overly heavy, rock melody. "All the rich kids shake their asses, looking for the two and four," she sings. We like it when Crow pokes fun at society, in this case dancing rich kids who can't quite find the beat, which makes her music as much about lyrical content and storytelling as it is about sound and instrumentation. Even though Sessions includes a nice melange of styles, it could use more songs like "Members Only." The album drags a little in the middle and just...