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.
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