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September 09, 2005
kitchen gossip is full of secrets and soda
Raccoo-Oo-Oon - Cave of Spirits
The first time I wrote about Raccoo-oo-oon, I compared them to the fauves, and that's not quite right. The more I think about it, and the more I listen to their music, the more I'm reminded of the paintings of Henri Rousseau. The jungle imagery that Rousseau used, the weird and delicate layers or color that he employed for the exotic foliage, and above all, the pervasive sense of danger that pops up in some of Rousseau's best paintings- it works as a compelling visual analogue to Raccoo-oo-oon's songs (not that there has to be one, but it's interesting nonetheless).
'Cave of Spirits' is the title track on Raccoo-oo-oon's recently released CD-R on Time-Lag Records, and it's quite a ride. I feel like Raccoo-oo-oon are going to have a hard time escaping the Animal Collective comparison (and on this track, it's all too easy to hear the similarities to 'Here Comes the Indian'-era A.C., or, even moreso, "Hollinndagain"-era A.C.), but really, they're doing something quite different from Avey Tare and co. This song alone shares traits with Hella, Boredoms/Vooredoms, Excepter- and the rest of the album, particularly 'Under the Deck', has the same kind of sprawling, decaying energy that made Black Eyes so exciting.
And that's one of the things that makes this band special, and something they definitely do share with Animal Collective- their relationship to their music seems dynamic and visceral, like when Noah (Panda Bear) was talking about what A.C. like to try to do for their live shows, "I think when we do it right we go deep inside ourselves when we play and I'd like to encourage people to do the same sort of thing with their stuff, even if it's not music at all." Raccoo-oo-oon definitely project a sense of being carried away by their own music, which is a good thing indeed.
"The Cave of Spirits Forever" is available either from the band themselves, or from the excellent Time-Lag Records. However, as was the case with the Wooden Spoon CD, Raccoo-oo-oon's album is a limited release (200), so you better jump on that.
Posted by Kevin at September 9, 2005 01:49 AM
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