- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: Cryptacize
Album: Mythomania
Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Playtime: 34:55 min
Genre: Indie
URL:
Rip date: 2009-04-16
Street date: 2009-04-21
Size: 47.20 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 179 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Cryptacize deals in the unforgettable melody, the forsaken chord and the
extravagant sentiment. It's a distinct kind of pleasure they offer, not
casual background or 'lifestyle' music. An unlikely synthesis of musical
styles, Mythomania (Cryptacize's second) is an album not quite like any
other. Nedelle Torrisi's surefooted and richly nuanced vocal arabesques, like
a modern day Freddie Mercury or Ronnie Spector, strangely complement Chris
Cohen's guitar, maniacally sped-up a la Les Paul or staccato and funny like
Roy Smeck or Adolph Jacobs of the Coasters. Michael Carreira's syncopated
drum corps rudiments and pit-orchestra rave-ups propel the songs with a
refreshingly buoyant touch that never lapses into rock music cliches. There
are also widescreen cinematic moments that take on a mournful and
otherworldly pathos, like Henry Mancini's "Experiment in Terror" but with
vocals by Cambodian 60's pop legend Ros Serey Sothea - or like Arabic diva
Fairouz singing along to a psychedelic film score by Popol Vuh.
Mythomania is a revelation by anyone's measure. The playing shows a new level
of confidence and intent, as well as an artful sense of timing - it's the
sound of a band that's found themselves and is growing by leaps and bounds.
Patiently built ideas are brought to full fruition, and it's recorded in
fidelity that surrounds you. The music is thicker and more continuous; in
addition to autoharp, guitars and drums there are now electric basses,
keyboards, piano, even found or purely electronic sounds. And yet the same
sense of space and suspense which guided 2008's Dig That Treasure is
instantly recognizable on Mythomania. In fact, the contrast between emptiness
and fullness seems even greater now, just as the music's emotional highs and
lows have been brought into abnormally high relief.
As the title Mythomania suggests, reality is transformed when fiction is
created upon fiction and though it may be barely recognizable or compatible
with the world of the everyday, this reality can also be beautiful - see for
example the album's title track, an allegorical tale about the moon's view of
earthly folly. Exploring the paradox of human perception, a personal
ambivalence about time and change, the notions of chance and free will versus
those of eternalism and fate, the limits of credibility and belief,
Mythomania builds upon the philosophical concerns of Dig That Treasure. Like
its predecessor, its tone is often both happy and sad, pragmatic and
mystical, hopeful and doomed.
Never ones to follow the rules, Cryptacize have been touring the US in a
Toyota Corolla (opening for bands as diverse as Why?, Danielson, Shearwater,
Ponytail, Magik Markers, Marnie Stern, The Blow, Mirah, etc.) performing
using miniature amps and drums - a sight which has caught many a spectator
off guard. They are a thoroughly unconventional band, but one that is somehow
miraculously easy on the ears. Deceptively simple, using modest means to
achieve ambitious ends, never predictable, Cryptacize challenges
preconceptions about how a song should go or how rock music should make you
feel. But in the end, they always leave you with a tune you can hum and
lyrics that tell a story.
Recorded by Cryptacize in a cabin near Yosemite over the summer of 2008.
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Tail & Mane ( 3:21)
02. What You Can't See Is ( 3:34)
03. Blue Tears ( 2:53)
04. My Thomania ( 3:21)
05. The Loving Sun ( 2:59)
06. Gotta Get Into That Feeling ( 2:57)
07. One Block Wonders ( 3:44)
08. The Cage ( 2:38)
09. Galvanize ( 5:02)
10. New Spell ( 4:26)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -