Posted on: Friday, July 16, 2004
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MY VIEW | MUSIC
Broken Spindles CD fails to fulfill
By Jessica Labrador
Special to The Advertiser
CD: "Fulfilled/Complete" by Broken Spindles; Saddle Creek.
Release: May 3, 2004. Style: Electronic. Rewind: Track No. 7. "Empty Bottle." Skip it: Track No. 11. "Twitching and Restless." My view: As a fan of The Faint, I wasn't sure what to expect when I first heard about "Broken Spindles," The Faint bassist Joel Petersen's solo project.
THE RATINGS 5 — Outstanding: Add it to your collection now. A must-have 4 — Great: Buy it or rent it — definitely listen to it. 3 — Good: Worth listening to despite some flaws. 2 — Fair: Unless you're a fan of the group or singer, don't bother. 1 — Poor: Save your money (and your ears). The percussion on "Fulfilled/Complete" seems to have a more hard-hitting, punchy sound than The Faint's poppy dance beats. But the major and obvious difference between "Broken Spindles" and The Faint is the absence of vocals on this record. With the lack of vocals, I expected compensation with ultra-technical drum patterns and/or innovative effects. Alas, I'd aimed too high. The dry percussion lacks where it should be making up for the vocals. Its mediocrity set my attention span in overdrive, boring me. Even with my preconceived biased love for The Faint, the dark, vocal-less, organic electronica failed to provide me with anything I found very spectacular.
It was hard to choose a favorite track because they all seemed to mesh into one seemingly endless mess of repetition. If anything stuck out of the 11 tracks of this record, it was "Empty Bottle" and "Twitching and Restless" — "Empty Bottle" the best and "Twitching and Restless" noticeably the worst. Brace yourself for average background music.
Jessica Labrador is a senior at Waialua High School.
Have a video game or CD you want to review? Contact Island Life deputy editor Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.
All I knew was that it was probably heavily influenced by electronic spasms, much like his well-known synth-pop outfit. After the first 30 seconds into the CD, my assump-tion proved right.
The Verdict: Two. This left me feeling rather empty.
