Review Summary: The Disco Biscuits expand their arsenal of genres by creating an album that ranges from electronica to hard rock to ambient.
If nothing else, this album is amazing while you are under the influence of certain drugs. I don’t know if the band attempts to mold their music for stoner ears, but it sure triggers some happy part of your brain if you’re, well, in a certain state of mind. All this aside, the Disco Biscuits, whose members are exceptionally talented at their respective instruments, released Senor Boombox. While live Disco Biscuits shows are obviously the high point for the band, here they still show they can convey the live feelings into a studio album, something that is very challenging. The only potential problem is, if you are not a fan of this type of music, you will most definitely put this album away and you probably won’t feel the need to give it another chance.
One of the most important aspects of Senor Boombox is that the entire album, from start to finish, maintains the signature Disco Biscuits theme. They have a magic way of giving each song a little recognizable tune that, even though each song is separate and unique, you can still tell that it is obviously the Disco Biscuits. Also, the band is exceptional at keeping up with some of the ridiculous drum beats. Take Jigsaw Earth for example, midway through the track the song breaks down and we hear a psychedelic keyboard chaotically bouncing along with the drum. It’s hard to tell who is leading who because both are so frantic and far out. The track itself is loosely based on the Gaia Philosophy, which is an interesting concept in itself. This shows that the band can blend near perfect instrumentation with interesting enough lyrics to keep you hooked. Now, back to that statement about the band manages to maintain a common feel throughout the whole album. Hope and Hope II are exquisite surprises on Senor Boombox. Hope sounds just like it was taken off Phish’s Undermind album and contains an upbeat theme and some nice guitar work. The track is good enough to stand alone, yet the final track on the album (excluding the bonus) is Hope II. At first, the song sounds like an ambient mess, with eerie vocals and psychedelic (I’m going to keep referring to them as psychedelic for lack of a better adjective) guitars. Then, the familiar Hope riff enters, along with the drums. From here, the song turns back into Hope, only harder and faster. It kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond series, only with less parts.
While the psytrance ambience and bizarre music styles are at a high point for most of the album, Floodlights does give the listener a brief glimpse of the hard-rock side of the Biscuits. The song features an outstanding guitar solo, complete with industrial-sounding vocals and a faster tempo than can be found on the rest of the album. Once again, the song tells an interesting story about running from the police, a topic I can guess is often discussed by the narcotic-friendly Disco Biscuits. Preceding Floodlights is the electronic techno dance track, Float like a Butterfly; a song made for and under the influence of a drug called Ecstasy. The mystical keys and female vocals lead straight into a full-fledged techno ambience track. Here we have yet another area in which the Biscuits excel. So, in just one album we have already found, psychedelic, techno, electronica, hard rock,trance and ambient. All of these elements together make up essentials for today’s jam bands, and the Disco Biscuits perform all of the elements with excellence. The only place in which Senor Boombox falls short is in the prominence of short intro tracks, hence Sugarcane and In the Sky. Though these are interesting little tunes, they could just be added to their respective following tracks and wouldn’t take up an entire track. Needless to say, if you listen to the album start to finish, this isn’t noticeable at all, but if you listen to your music on shuffle, it might make you angry to be hearing all these short minute-long tracks.
Overall, if you are a fan of this type of psytrance jam bands, this is an essential listen. If you have never heard this kind of music before, it is a big shift from any other zone of listening. If you ever want to see a good concert, make sure to go see the Biscuits live because their performances are mind-blowing. Although they are primarily a live act, they portray their energetic feelings quite extraordinarily into Senor Boombox. If you’re looking to switch up your music tastes, Senor Boombox will no doubt open your eyes to the world of electronic jamming.
Recommended:
Heavy drug use
Hope I & II
Floodlights
Jigsaw Earth
Float Like A Butterfly
