Psycho Babylon Kent WA

Psycho Babylon

The ids

Nettwerk Productions, 1997

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/11/1997

Back when Beck first burst onto the scene, I didn't understand what the big deal was about him. To my untrained ear, he seemed like free-association Jean-Paul Sartre set to a rough acoustic beat. I wrote him off as a passing fad... that, along with the polyester leisure suit I bought for a wedding (don't ask), was one of the biggest mistakes I made in the '90s.

Fortunately, I have been given a chance to redeem myself with Sean Macdonald's brainchild The ids and their debut effort Psycho Babylon... or have I? (Guess you'll have to keep reading to find out...)

The sparse arrangements of many of the songs on this one paint the picture of a world trapped in a world of ironic anarchy. More than once the cries of "fuck the system" will blare from your speakers -- and while this ain't Phil Ochs, the message comes across strikingly blurry. Somehow, I think this is exactly how Macdonald wanted it to be -- and it works.

More often than not, Macdonald is the force behind the instruments and voices of the songs, though he does occasionally assemble other musicians to join him in his map-less journey. Normally, in my pre-Beck days, I would doubt that order could come from such chaos. But now that I am enlightened, I see that the chaos is the order, and musicians like Adrian Rout, Jim Routhier Rick Brummer and Jacob Cino just help guide the listener to the order.