Psapp - Tiger, My Friend (2004)
Psapp - Tiger, My Friend (2005)
Mp3 CBR 320kbps ~ 105 Mb (incl 5%) | Time: 00:41:05
Genre: Indie Electronic, Post Rock, Indie Pop, Leftfield, Experimental | Label: Virgin, Grönland Records
Mp3 CBR 320kbps ~ 105 Mb (incl 5%) | Time: 00:41:05
Genre: Indie Electronic, Post Rock, Indie Pop, Leftfield, Experimental | Label: Virgin, Grönland Records
”Tiger, My Friend” is the first album by experimental British duo Psapp.
Psapp - Tiger, My Friend (2004)
Psapp - Tiger, My Friend (2004)
Much like fellow Londoners Tunng and Adem, Psapp (the cat-obsessed duo of Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant) combine the idyllic laptop IDM of Four Tet and isan (whose Robin Saville released this album in the U.K. on his Arable label) with gentle bossa nova and folk-inflected songwriting, infused with their endearingly lighthearted personal sensibility. Tiger, My Friend, their debut full-length, impresses first with its whimsy: it's rife with the sounds of toy instruments (xylophones, pan flutes, accordions, music boxes), toy-like noisemakers (typewriters, door hinges, alarm clocks), and straight-up toys. Actually, who knows where they got all these squeaks and blips and whirrs and burbles and scrapes; the credits list a cat and a beer can, while the album artwork depicts mysterious keyboard-like devices with labels including "strum press wigglers," "surprise noise buttons," and "spectral weasel." For all their imaginatively goofy sound-harvesting though, Psapp's substance lies in their sophisticated and strangely sober songs, which are generally built on fairly traditional foundations – softly plucked acoustic guitars, parlor-room pianos, stately string arrangements – with some additional electronic tweaking and trickery, and always buoyed by Durant's honeyed, understated vocals. The result is an appealing and somewhat unique balancing act; the emotional resonance of the songwriting preventing the record from feeling trite or overly gimmicky while the persistent childlike playfulness leavens some potentially too-solemn songs. Indeed, the lyrics sometimes get surprisingly dour – "Leaving in Coffins" meditates on mortality and aging, while other songs ("King Kong," the spare "Counter," even the lovely, resignedly affirmative "Curuncula") reflect the push and pull of a fraught relationship (which it's difficult to imagine could too closely resemble Clasmann and Durant's own). On the other hand, there's "About Fun," whose curious cat-like lyrics ("I want a bowl of cold milk," "let's have a bite of raw meat") fit nicely into its quirky-jerky Latin-tinged groove – it's not just about fun, it is, and so, resoundingly, lyrical content notwithstanding, is Tiger, My Friend.Review by K. Ross Hoffman, Allmusic.com
The experimental British duo Psapp (pronounced sap) features guitarist/producer Carim Clasmann and vocalist/keyboardist/violinist Galia Durant. Together, they create a charming, indie pop-influenced mix of sultry vocals and quirky electronic beats. Tiger, My Friend marked Psapp's album debut for Leaf in 2004. Two years later, Psapp jumped ship to the Domino label (home to Franz Ferdinand, the Arctic Monkeys, and Clearlake) for the release of their second album. The Only Thing I Ever Wanted arrived in June 2006, highlighting a more focused design to Psapp's friendly, creative energy, and stateside dates with Juana Molina and José Gonzalez coincided with its release that summer. Psapp's popularity also received a boost from the land of prime-time television, which the band had first entered in 2005 (when their song "Cosy in the Rocket" was picked as the theme song for the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy). As Psapp's music continued to attract new listeners, the duo returned to the recording studio to helm their third album, The Camel's Back, which was released in England in late 2008 and early 2009 in the U.S..
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Tracklist:
1. "Northdown Flat B1" - 0:31
2. "Rear Moth" - 3:56
3. "Leaving in Coffins" - 4:13
4. "Calm Down" (Psapp, Tim Whelan) - 4:21
5. "Velvet Pony" - 3:48
6. "About Fun" - 3:42
7. "Curuncula" - 5:45
8. "King Kong" - 4:10
9. "The Counter" - 3:51
10. "Chapter" - 2:40
11. "Tiger, My Friend" - 4:03
Personnel:
Psapp:
Carim Clasmann
Galia Durant
Additional personnel:
Shawn Lee - drums, "Rear Moth"
Matt Wasser - beer can, "Tiger, My Friend"
Splodge the cat - squeaks, "About Fun"