Eels

Souljacker

E-asy listening

Review Score:

(6/10)
to compare the eel's E to beck is hardly fair. though both are somewhat creative guys specializing in catchy tunes, E is hardly as annoying as that psuedo-hip indie poseur beck. case in point: for the latest album, E's grown a beard. not an al borland beard, but a full-out hassidic beard, bushing out madly. the unabomber smuggling the dog on the cover of 'souljacker' is good ole E himself.

'souljacker', the album that got released everywhere but america, has finally landed on these shores and was it worth the wait? yeah, i guess. 'souljacker', a concept album without a concept, is full of many ideas and many songs lacking coherent continuity, yet maintaining an unapologeticaly kitsch feel throughout. the album starts out with 'dog faced boy', which steals the riff from pussy galore's 'cu-- tease' to great effect. 'that's not really funny' toys with solex-esque inserted sound, while 'woman driving, man sleeping' comes off like the twilight singers lite. some tracks ('teenage witch', 'bus stop boxer') are almost unbearably catchy.

'souljacker' is also being packaged with a bonus CD, 'the rotten world blues EP', which features four non-album tracks, with at least one ('i write the b-sides', appropriately enough) an essential listen.

so, all in all, a much better buy than beck. but then again, what isn't?

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