Battle Begins, The - Fimbulthier

Advantages: Mad, colourful rock electronica from the Lips
Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted

...It was always going to be difficult to top their 1999 masterpiece The Soft Bulletin, but brilliant songwriting always seems to come easy to this psychedelic Oklahoma three-piece. Combining wit with catchy tunes and layer upon layer of sounds, Yoshimi is their most intricate work yet; more and more is discovered by the listener every time it is played. Let battle commence! 1. Fight Test: The test begins........NOW! announces a slightly creepy voice from within, and so the journey begins. Fight Test is, like the rest of the album, filled with huge, round, soft, rubbery, squidgy noises you could almost curl up and fall asleep on. It has a pop song structure but there is nothing else remotely pop about this track; its far too good for a start. Wayne Coyne strains at the top of his voice about his failure to fight off his competitors... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Eleven of them
Disadvantages: Hardly any

...-into-space mood for the end of the CD - until you wake yourself up and press 'Play' again. It also reprises the kitschy sci-fi feel from the beginning with its retro noises again, thus compelling yet another listen to the CD. And there we have it. At under 48 minutes it's not a hugely long CD, but in fact is the perfect length. Never does it outstay its welcome, and instead is full of cherishable noises, lyrics and moments. The instrumentation is just too full, rounded and complex to do justice to via the inadequacy of words, with a brilliant and friendly old-meets-new feel that cannot fail to appeal. The vocals are strong and legible, and really very poetic too; none of this modern piffle. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots has been selling quite well, thank you, since its release last summer, but with the continued press acclaim... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Its good in its strangeness.
Disadvantages: All the tracks tend to sound the same.

...Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is a great album of almost story-telling, electronica which is ok to have a quiet listen to. The listing is: 1. Fight Test 2. One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21 3. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 1 4. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 2 5. In The Morning Of the Magicians 6. Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell 7. Are You a Hypnotist?? 8. It's Summertime 9. Do You Realize?? 10. All we Have is Now 11. Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia) To enjoy most tracks fully you'd have to listen to the whole album, however there are a couple of tracks which can stand on their own, for example, "Do You Realize??" and "Fight Test". I think the best song on the album would be "Do You Realize??" (featured on the "Charmed" sountrack). This song is still strange, but in a good way and has... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful