Anybody who knows anything about the Internet knows about Weebl, or at the very least about Badger Badger Badger. Turns out that Weebl, otherwise known as Jonti Picking, has his own website, where you can find all sorts of cool animations. His signature style is to make a cartoon with his own music that makes no sense and loops indefinitely. Lo and behold, he has released some of his tunes on his new album, "Yesterday's Lemon." I picked up the album on iTunes, and after listening to it on repeat for the umpteenth time, I am ready to review it.
Track list:
1-Amazing Horse
2-Electro Gypsy
3-Narwhals
4-Owls
5-8bit Shrooms
6-Blimp
7-Electro Gypsy (Angle Grinder 8 Dnb Remix)
8-Baby Baboon
9-Pelican
The first three tracks on this album are a trifecta of addictive electronic beats. "Amazing Horse" soars with tight synth melodies with a nice panned drum kit to back it up. "Electro Gypsy" sings a ballad about future music while bringing credibility to the title. And then there's "Narwhals", a happy go lucky tune about nature's oddest sea mammal. These three tunes will be stuck in your head for the next two weeks after you hear them. You might even sing along. It's an incredibly strong opening to an album.
Ironically this album has no songs about lemons. Five of the nine tracks are dedicated to animals. This album should have been titled "Weebl's Menagerie." "Yesterday's Lemon" relies heavily on comedic value, since most of the songs were designed for looping Internet cartoons. It's really obvious where the loops were meant to end, because it's where the breakdown of the song is. Some of the songs have a children's music feel to them similar to They Might Be Giants. However, when you produce an album with the line "Look at my horse, my horse is amazing... With a stroke of its mane/It turns into a plane/And then it turns back again/When you tug on its winkie", you've exited the realm of children's music. The humor of this album is superb in my opinion, but if you've ever watched a Weebl cartoon and thought to yourself, "Fuck this noise," then you won't like this album.
The only other song on this album I found notable was "8bit Shrooms", because I'm a Mario fan (I grew up on the NES) and its the sole heavy metal song in "Yesterday's Lemon." Weebl's vocals are clear and solid throughout, and some of the tracks are even supplemented by female vocals. Personally I'd like to find out what kind of home studio setup Jonti Picking is using. The production values of this album are slick, and remind us how pretty much anybody can release a record these days. The only shortcoming of this album is the remix of "Electro Gypsy", which has a hard hitting edge to it that sticks out like a sore thumb (too much compression on the drums). I didn't find the remix particularly creative, and would have preferred more original songs.
If you are willing to give these tracks a chance, they'll worm your way into your regular listening schedule. The songs may be short in length, but their brevity is made up for by their replayability. If you don't already love narwhals now, you soon will, and realize that they are in fact the most awesome sea mammals in the world.
Track list:
1-Amazing Horse
2-Electro Gypsy
3-Narwhals
4-Owls
5-8bit Shrooms
6-Blimp
7-Electro Gypsy (Angle Grinder 8 Dnb Remix)
8-Baby Baboon
9-Pelican
The first three tracks on this album are a trifecta of addictive electronic beats. "Amazing Horse" soars with tight synth melodies with a nice panned drum kit to back it up. "Electro Gypsy" sings a ballad about future music while bringing credibility to the title. And then there's "Narwhals", a happy go lucky tune about nature's oddest sea mammal. These three tunes will be stuck in your head for the next two weeks after you hear them. You might even sing along. It's an incredibly strong opening to an album.
Ironically this album has no songs about lemons. Five of the nine tracks are dedicated to animals. This album should have been titled "Weebl's Menagerie." "Yesterday's Lemon" relies heavily on comedic value, since most of the songs were designed for looping Internet cartoons. It's really obvious where the loops were meant to end, because it's where the breakdown of the song is. Some of the songs have a children's music feel to them similar to They Might Be Giants. However, when you produce an album with the line "Look at my horse, my horse is amazing... With a stroke of its mane/It turns into a plane/And then it turns back again/When you tug on its winkie", you've exited the realm of children's music. The humor of this album is superb in my opinion, but if you've ever watched a Weebl cartoon and thought to yourself, "Fuck this noise," then you won't like this album.
The only other song on this album I found notable was "8bit Shrooms", because I'm a Mario fan (I grew up on the NES) and its the sole heavy metal song in "Yesterday's Lemon." Weebl's vocals are clear and solid throughout, and some of the tracks are even supplemented by female vocals. Personally I'd like to find out what kind of home studio setup Jonti Picking is using. The production values of this album are slick, and remind us how pretty much anybody can release a record these days. The only shortcoming of this album is the remix of "Electro Gypsy", which has a hard hitting edge to it that sticks out like a sore thumb (too much compression on the drums). I didn't find the remix particularly creative, and would have preferred more original songs.
If you are willing to give these tracks a chance, they'll worm your way into your regular listening schedule. The songs may be short in length, but their brevity is made up for by their replayability. If you don't already love narwhals now, you soon will, and realize that they are in fact the most awesome sea mammals in the world.
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