Blonde Redhead: Penny Sparkle (CD on 4AD)

Band: Blonde Redhead
Label: 4AD
Title: Penny Sparkle

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Band:Blonde Redhead
Title:Penny Sparkle
Reviewed By:Paul Waller
Date Published:03/10/2010

Label:4AD
Format:CD
Release Year:Label
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From the off, the teaser track the band released to the public for this, the group's ninth album and third for 4AD you could tell that there had been changes within the Blonde Redhead camp musical ethos. The song in question was opener 'Here Sometimes' and it seemed that all but eradicated was the intricate guitar work and in it’s place was heavy synth lead hooks.

Those synths literally saturate 'Penny Sparkle' from beginning to end and I must admit that it takes a listen or two to catch up and simply get with the new aesthetic. But once there, tracks such as the eerie 'My Plants Are Dead' spring to life. “I let the boys party but I’m just gonna chill” sings Kazu Makino and she really does. If ever there was a Sunday morning record then this is it.

The guitars haven’t completely gone. They can still be heard but they are simply swamped in effects pedals that add and never take away from this dreamy path the band have taken. The highlight for me has to be 'Black Guitar'. Maybe it’s the male/female vocal approach, maybe it’s those Radiohead blips that provide the majority of the back beat or perhaps it’s simply that everything that Blonde Redhead were hoping to achieve with this record is encapsulated with this singular five and a half minute song. It’s ridiculously beautiful and makes this reviewer realise that upstarts such as Telepathe and the Hundred in the Hands whilst utterly relevant and exciting still have a long way to go before they can match the understated skill that Blonde Redhead have mastered here. I for one can not wait to see what the band comes up with next.

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Understated and dreamy-sounding ninth album from New York rockers Blonde Redhead which finds them moving away from guitars and experimenting predominantly with synthesisers

Blonde Redhead:Conway Hall, London, 17/9/2004
Blonde Redhead's latest album, ''Misery Is A Butterfly'', has just been released on the 4AD label. At the Conway Hall in London watches the long-serving NYC act reject their noisy and abrasive past for something more dreamlike and melodic

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Penny Sparkle - CD
Understated and dreamy-sounding ninth album from New York rockers Blonde Redhead which finds them moving away from guitars and experimenting predominantly with synthesisers

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