Tera Melos
Patagonian Rats


4.0
excellent

Review

by nicholasarthur USER (15 Reviews)
September 11th, 2010 | 68 replies


Release Date: 2010 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Tera Melos takes their best elements from previous albums, experiments with new elements, and effortlessly succeeds.

Patagonian Rats incredibly fun but is certainly far from being mindless in the least. For a band like Tera Melos, who are usually praised for their technical prowess, to even attempt to incorporate pop sensibilities is already admirable in its own right. Many would disagree with this notion but think about how much easier, it would be for this band to keep making instrumental albums and retain a loyal base of fans. The more surprising aspect of Patagonian Rats is that it ultimately works for being such a drastic departure.

There are no shortages of highlights throughout the album but there are tracks that are really strange even by Tera Melos’ standards. After a brief intro, the album explodes into “Kelly” which sounds immense with electronics blending with a lot of feedback and guitar wizardry. This jumps into the extremely catchy “The Skin Surf,” which resembles the sound they experimented with on the Idioms EP and is guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days on end. “Aped” follows and is easily one of the best songs on the album. This is where the old and new dynamics of Tera Melos are perfectly blended together. A few more tracks in we are introduced to “Frozen Zoo” which sounds out of place but is certainly up to par with the rest of the material. The track is very pop oriented containing almost danceable interpretation of their core sound. The song is something that would probably fit better on a Talking Heads album but adds some interesting variety to the album. “Party with Gina” sounds like something they would’ve done circa Complex Full of Phantoms but displays a sense of heightened pop sensibilities. This song takes the insane technical prowess of earlier Tera Melos and twists it into something even more epic than anything they have ever done. The last track that I will note is the complete chaos displayed on “Another Surf.” This sounds like something from John Zorn’s Naked City and once again pulls Tera Melos into unfamiliar musical territory that they once again ultimately succeed at. The tracks I have not mentioned have their individual merits and are worthwhile examples of Tera Melos experimenting with pop sensibilities.

What Patagonian Rats ultimately does is keep the majority of what made Tera Melos great to begin with while showing their ability to experiment with more pop oriented song structures.



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user ratings (388)
3.8
excellent
other reviews of this album
CharizardOysterSauce (4.5)
This album is a masterpiece, many will argue being their best to date, but i personally believe each...

Enotron (3)
Tera Melos could've created the funnest noise of the year if they weren't so busy trying to be a pop...

mecca (5)
Patagonian Rats kicks ass and doesn't bother taking names. The band's usual jazz is all but gone. ...



Comments:Add a Comment 
SeaAnemone
September 11th 2010


21429 Comments


pretty bad review darling, I'm sorry.

I know it's your first, so some pointers-- try not to talk about trivial things like the album's reputation on the site for two paragraphs. A "classic" review requires more analyzation than "this song they do this, that song they do that" you have to say why it works SO ridiculously well. and saying this, "The main suggestion here is just to enjoy this for what it is rather than over analyzing it to death." is probably the worst thing you could stay in a review... try to steer clear from that in the future.

other than that, welcome, I didn't neg, but you may wanna clean this up a whole lot or at least keep it iin mind.

SeaAnemone
September 11th 2010


21429 Comments


oh my you have Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit as a 5 too, that explains things.

porch
September 11th 2010


8459 Comments


You can imagine my shock when I saw the first review calling the album merely good

yeah, sorry but this review and the reasoning behind it is absolutely retarded. just because somebody has the audacity to disagree with you (!) is no reason to actually mention it in your review. also, you didn't justify the classic rating at all.


nicholasarthur
September 11th 2010


87 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

I'll fix it up thanks for the pointers.

SeaAnemone
September 11th 2010


21429 Comments


me and porch got that good cop, bad cop thing goin' on

Enotron
September 11th 2010


7695 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

but sea snowing kicks butt(well it's like a 4, but hey)



i like that my review angers people, it's awesome

nicholasarthur
September 11th 2010


87 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Certainly understandable although I did take most of that stuff out about the other reviews considering it was a little ridiculous. Also the 5 for the snowing album stems from my personal connection to it along with the fact that it's amazing. Although if I didn't have that sort of odd relationship with it a 4 would be about right.

Enotron
September 11th 2010


7695 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

BA DA DA-DA-DA DA BOP BOP BOP BA DA DA-DA-DA DA BA DA

Enotron
September 11th 2010


7695 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

BA DA DA-DA-DA DA BOP BOP BOP BA DA DA-DA-DA DA BA DA



edit: double post BUT IT WAS WORTH IT

elephantREVOLUTION
September 12th 2010


3052 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

decent review. anyone know if there is going to be a staff review?

Enotron
September 12th 2010


7695 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

moar lyke redskyformilssss

Enotron
September 12th 2010


7695 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

i'd like to see cam write a review for it just for something that's positive, but not incredibad or hyperbolic

TMobotron
September 12th 2010


7253 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

the 3 ratings for this are absolutely ridiculous imo. But I also agree that the classic ratings are kind of ridiculous.

elephantREVOLUTION
September 12th 2010


3052 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

yeah, i'm waiting for a 4 or 4.5 review.

mecca
September 12th 2010


87 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

cz a 4.5 and 5 are so different. come on, they're only numbers, of which we all have different

definitions and connotations--and also of the terms given the numbers. in that case every

"qualitative number" (which itself doesn't really make any sense . . . quality isn't something that

can be made quantitative, for that implies objectivity, which is impossible in any judgement) is

ridiculous, especially when, in reality, they are "logical" only to those who assign them their

meaning.



i'd be quicker to talk about albums qualitatively, via reviews or "sound offs," not empty numbers.

TMobotron
September 12th 2010


7253 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

except 5 is classic, and while we might have different connotations for that, it's pretty obvious what classic means.

mecca
September 12th 2010


87 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

i'm not so sure about that. i think my review is more accurate as to how i feel than the number 5 or

the word classic.



any sort of "average rating" business is bullshit to some extent.



Lakes: no u

SeaAnemone
September 12th 2010


21429 Comments


ok calm down he's simply saying that rating something a "5" means a lot more than rating something a "4.5" to some people... like there's a huge difference in their opinion of an album between 4.5 and 5.

mecca
September 12th 2010


87 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

no i'm cool dude. sorry if i came across as offensive or defensive.



and i can understand that. and i agree, but only about my personal opinions, which, obviously, no one

else shares exactly. i mean, while they mean something to you, your 4.5s and 5s mean nothing to me,

which is no one's fault. same goes for whatever else.

SeaAnemone
September 12th 2010


21429 Comments


yeah all he did was imply that a 4.5 and a 5 for him demonstrate a big difference and you jumped on him. idk I feel like he didn't say anything ridiculous and you went on a crazy tangent trying to prove you were right about god knows what



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