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:: Release Info:
::
:: Artist......> Black Spartacus
:: Title.......> The Seven Dreams of the Leviathan
:: Label.......> Asaurus Records
:: Genre.......> Lo-Fi
:: Rip.Date....> 03.24.2005
:: Street.Date.> 00.00.0000
:: Source......> CDDA
:: Quality.....> VBRkbps - Full Stereo
:: Play Time...> 33:52 min
::
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:: Track Listing:
::
:: 01. Love is A Feeling
:: 02. Que Pasa
:: 03. The Big Swim
:: 04. The Volga
:: 05. O.T.T. (Train Song)
:: 06. Big Time
:: 07. Watermills
:: 08. Mysteries of the Deep
:: 09. The Lionness
:: 10. The 7th Dream
:: 11. The Droid
::
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:: Release Notes:
::
:: Black Spartacus is Kevin Hume and The Seven Dreams of
:: Leviathan is the dramatic homegrown pop gem of an album he
:: released on Midwestern boutique label Asaurus Records. The
:: Seven Dreams of Leviathan squeezes a presumably formidble
:: record collection and musical instinct through Hume's brain,
:: hands and voice and into that modern marvel of DIY recording,
:: the home computer. With such full, clean sounds and ambitious
:: mixes, I hesitate to call Black Spartacus' music lo fi,
:: although it's definitely an unconventional blend of artists
:: as varied as the Zombies, Dntel, Donovan and Charles Atlas.
:: It's folky, it's spacey and it's altogether impressive.
::
:: While the first track, "Love is a Feeling", traces a droney
:: synthesizer for almost four minues, "Que Pasa?" opens with
:: poppy acoustic guitar, carnival organ and that staple of
:: thoughtful retro-pop, the handclap, before unveiling some
:: "aaahhh"-ing vocals midway through. The first song with sung
:: lyrics is "The Big Swim", unveiling an exquisite, anglophilic
:: melody. "The Volga", "Watermills" and "The Droid", which
:: closes the CD are all slight drone variations, mixing
:: keyboard, bells, and voices in a way that's both soothing and
:: hypnotic without becoming tedious. "O.T.T. (Train Song)", if
:: pressed for comparison, seems like the brainy cousin of the
:: Decemberists and Mystic Chords of Melody, laying ethereal pop
:: vocals on top of tiny pop bombast (are those cymbal crashes
:: deep in the mix?) before handing the song over to a clever
:: little guitar noodle. "Big Time" sounds like an instrumental
:: Belle and Sebastian song played in one of those keyboard
:: stores in the mall. The elegant, melody-driven "Mysteries of
:: the Deep" is followed by a shorter abstract soundscape, "The
:: Lionness" and a soundtrack-eque peice called "The 7th Dream".
::
:: I loved The Seven Dreams of Leviathan, it's exactly the
:: flavor and quality of outsider pop I hope is still out there
:: somewhere, spilling out of 4-tracks, cd burners and
:: knapsacks. Pick up the low cost, handmade love at the Asaurus
:: Records website.
::
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::
:: RiP iN PeACe!
::
::
::
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