Skunk Anansie is the kind of band that will spark one of two
\nreactions in you. The first is an instant attraction to their music
\nand the dark realism of their music and lyrics. The other is a
\ngape-mouthed, wide-eyed, “What the hell’s
\nthat!?!<\/i>?” stare. Beats that could have come right off of a
\ntechno record with the lyrical intensity of Nine Inch Nails, all
\ndelivered by a cross between Tracy Chapman and Me’Shell
\nNdegocello’s vocal style?<\/p>\n
Believe it, buckeroo – Skunk Anansie’s third album
\nPost Orgasmic Chill<\/i> is that kind of a record. Unfortunately,
\nthey’re not able to keep that level of energy or excellence going
\nthroughout this record, resulting in a disc that smacks of what
\ncould have been.<\/p>\n
The band – vocalist Skin, guitarist Ace, bassist Cass and
\ndrummer Mark (boy, is it easy to type these things when no last
\nnames are used) – transcends any simple pigeonholing you might want
\nto use regarding their music. Take the lead-off single “Charlie Big
\nPotato”: one minute, you’re listening to beats that could have been
\nculled from a techno record; the next minute, you’re surrounded by
\nriffs and beats that border on alternative rock. It’s a twisting,
\nturning ride that rivals any roller coaster you can board.<\/p>\n
And while it’s sometimes difficult to decipher what Skin is
\nsaying (even with a lyric sheet – which has a bit of a bizarre
\nlayout), tracks like “On My Hotel T.V.” send the ride into
\noverdrive vocally. The verbal assault laid down by Skin is a
\nscathing attack both on the labels that can be attached on someone,
\nand the way life on the road can grind someone down.<\/p>\n
The difficulty with
\nPost Orgasmic Chill<\/i> is that Skunk Anansie is not able to
\nsustain that level of intensity for long without some degradation
\nof the sound. While tracks like “The Skank Heads,” “Good Things
\nDon’t Always Come To You” and “And This Is Nothing That I Thought I
\nHad” do shine, other tracks like “Tracy’s Flaw,” “You’ll Follow Me
\nDown” and “Cheap Honesty” just don’t live up to the expectations
\nthat Skunk Anansie build up for themselves.<\/p>\n
It also takes a bit of time for the musical twists and turns to
\nbecome natural-sounding to the listener. The first time I tried
\nlistening to this disc, it actually overpowered me to the point
\nthat I had to turn it off and walk away from it for a day or two.
\nWith a little investment of time and effort, Skunk Anansie’s style
\nbegins to sound natural.<\/p>\n
I don’t know if the domestic version of this disc will contain
\nit, but the U.K. release (which is what I have to work with)
\ncontains an interactive section that includes not only insights on
\nthe songs from the band themselves and the now perfunctory Web
\nlink, but also the video for “Charlie Big Potato,” which is a
\nbizarre trip. Be ye warned.<\/p>\n
\nPost Orgasmic Chill<\/i> is an intense portrait of a band that
\ndemands you accept them on their own terms. If only they were able
\nto maintain a high level of excellence on all their music, this
\nalbum could have been a juggernaut – but to create
\nany<\/i> album that powerful is difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7512],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39247","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-skunk-anansie","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39247"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}