No need to “hold on to your butts”—Nedry’s music won’t take you anywhere
Jurassic Park references aside, Condors fails to captivate
Nedry
Condors
Released on Apr 20, 2010
Jurassic Park was one of my favorite movies growing up, and that’s given me the unfortunate belief that I can now join the electronic trio Nedry. I mean, if the members (Ayu Okakita, Chris Amblin, and Matt Parker) can come together based on a love of electronic and analogue music and Jurassic Park, why can’t I join in? That being said, I think I lack a crucial love of experimentation that is required for entry. These eight tracks don’t try to captivate you. They may hypnotize you with their repetitive tones, but that doesn’t count in my book as captivating. Maybe I would love this album and laud their creativity if I were well-versed in the intricacies of mixing and looping that are hallmarks of electronic music, but I’m not. And as a result, I’ve got to say that Condors is ultimately an album that is worth listening to once, but not worth revisiting.
Amblin and Parker bring their mixing talents to the group, but it is Okakita’s voice that stands out on this album. Hearing a feminine voice above more electronic, industrial sounds makes for an interesting (if not slightly expected) juxtaposition, and whether she’s singing traditionally or Amblin and Parker are looping her voice to make it an instrument, it gives the album most of its direction. That being said, it’s an interesting juxtaposition to listen to if you like Bjork and Fever Ray, since her vocal quality is almost identical to those two women. The similarity certainly takes away some of the originality that might otherwise be ascribed to their music.
One track that isn’t lacking in originality—or at least doesn’t sound like a B-side of Bjork or Fever Ray—is “Scattered.” Aptly titled, this song is intense and all over the place. The band describes themselves as having more of a noise-based sound, and that is on full display on this track. Okakita’s voice is noticeably missing, and since it falls right in the middle of the album, one wonders if it’s meant to divide the album in some sort of way. Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound like the case here. It’s just there because that’s where they put it.
Okakita’s voice is best used in the opening and closing tracks, “A42” and “Where Dead Birds Go.” Her vocals are basically the definition of “airy loopiness,” which is actually nice to listen to. “Where Dead Birds Go” is the intriguing track, simply because the instrumentation is a little more menacing and makes her ethereal tones sound more ghostly than pretty. That being said though, it’s disappointing that you have to wait until the last track to hear the best combination of Okakita’s voice and Amblin and Parker’s instrumentation.
Even if you’re part of the “noise” subset in electronic music, you’re got to give your listeners some new sound or new engineering trick to want to hear again and again. Since Nedry fails to do that, Condors is noise that fails to make any real impact.
High Point
I’m going with the instrumentation on “Where Dead Birds Go.” While the mixing on “Scatttered” is great, the final track’s sound is a little more focused and absorbing.
Low Point
The fact that for the most part, it’s an album full of music that you’ve probably already heard from other, more established electronic acts.
Posted by Alyssa Vincent on Apr 22, 2010 @ 6:30 am