- Audio CD (May 16 2006)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import, Enhanced
- Label: Darla
- ASIN: B000F2CACO
- Other Editions: Audio CD
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Connectivity! - European Supercreativity,
By Richard S. Warner "Saraswati-Son" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Connectivity! (Audio CD)
Recently Europe seems to hold the brightest torch that lights the path ahead. Socially, politically and definitely... culturally. Mahogany's "Connectivity!" evinces this beautifully.Nowhere here is there the jaded and materialist smugness or nihilism that largely dominates North American popular music. Europe with it's vast cultural heritage keeps rising, phoenix-like, in ever new forms that drives the Western mind FORWARD. While North America, schizophrenically tears itself in two, Europe, ever deft, takes extremes and merges them in fascinating hybrids. And this is what you find in "Connectivity!", the connectivity of a vast array of elements, over-seen with a both a Pop - Artistic vision that entertains, delights, fascinates and uplifts. Right away, the CD, with it's massively glorious opening "Tesselation" lifts one up in a gigantic swoop into clear blue skies that glories in the present and offers a completely optimistic view of upcoming horizons. There is no romance for the past but an almost mystical revelling in all the technicalities of the present age. It's sciences, instead, are not seen not as dystopian but filled with promise for a future where we incorporate our achievements while retaining our joy in creativity. "Supervitesse" soars with real strength into a glittering, utopian future, "weightless, luminous". From there on "Connectivity!" keeps it's forward movement, freshness and originality. Each track is a bright surprise and a delight. There is so much variation in song style and structure that "Connectivity!" never once loses interest or fascination - these folk are shimmeringly brilliant. Songs range from the speedy clip of "Supervitesse" to the moody, experimentalism of "Domino Ladder Beta". All of it fits into the grander vision of a kind of "Technological Future Romance". The music is largely pop-formatted in structure but each track offers unique creations with so many odd twists and articulations while always retaining it's "new morning" paradigm. There is more creativity in this CD than I've heard in dozens of releases in the past few years. Influences and associations abound, some of them at first surprising, which is quickly followed with a big "of course". Once again Robin Guthrie, mastermind of the Cocteau Twins, appears, producing and guiding the proceedings masterfully. His influence and contribution greatly flavour "Connectivity!" adding great sonic sweep to many of the tracks. Yet this is not merely "New Millenium Cocteau Twins". Mahogany have a great deal of their own originality. Guthrie just facilitates and illuminates it. There are moments on the CD that smack of Ray Davies ( The lead vocal on "Neo-Plastic Boogie-Woogie" - with it's Beach Boys/ Association chorus at the end ), Elizabeth Fraser-esque vocals on "My Bed is My Castle" and "Springtime, Save Our Country", and Sarah Cracknell-like singing on the very St. Etienne "Renovo". Imagine, if you will, Talking Heads as mystically/scientifically influenced Europeans circa "Remain in Light" and you start to approach the great rythmic and structural versatility of Mahogany. And of course there are tints and strokes of the Cocteaus, as well. Mahogany appears to be a collaborative of about 13 people but focused by a core of 3 or 4. The music is anchored and propelled wonderfully by an almost Chris Squire Rickenbacker bass that at times takes the position of main instrument to great effect ( "Supervitesse", "Domino Ladder Beta" and "The View From the People Wall".) Gorgeous washes of guitar textures, lush mellotrons and musically focused synthesizer tonalities abound. The orchestration is magically diverse and features both instruments and electronica in a multi-coloured tapestry, all tastefully and artfully placed. Some good companion artists to this CD: Ulrich Schnauss, Spiritualized ( '92), Xymox ( '91), Talking Heads ( '80), Cocteau Twins. "Connectivity!" is really, really fine Euro-Art Music, at its best!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding dream pop album,
By somethingexcellent - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Connectivity! (Audio CD)
Mahogany released their debut album clear back in 1999. The Dream Of A Modern Day originally came out on Burnt Hair Records, but found a following and was eventually given a re-release on Darla a couple years later. A dream pop gem of an album, it managed to stand out amongst similar-sounding releases and marked the group as someone to keep an eye on. Over the years, they've released a slew of singles and EPs, most of which were released as a 2CD compilation (Memory Column) on Darla last year.Connectivity! finds the group back in action, and it seems that the years between full length releases hasn't really slowed them down at all. Much more varied than their debut, this eleven track, forty-five minute release (a little longer if you count the bonus mixes and videos on the 2nd CD) is chocked-full of delicious hooks and more dreamy sounds than you can shake a stick at. "Tesselation, Formerly Plateau One" opens the release with a softly brimming waltz that shuffles quietly with cracking snares, looping keyboards and undulating waves of shimmering guitars. Showing off a slightly different side of their sound, "Supervitesse" revs with a bouncy bass line, playful male/female vocals, and more subtle guitar work that pulls the track together nicely. From there, the album veers even more wildly as it progresses, but as it does so, the group shows off their range, along with sparkling, expansive production that serves their sound quite well. "Neo-Plastic Boogie-Woogie" sounds something like a Belle And Sebastian track drenched in reverb and remixed by Kevin Shields, with more male/female vocals blending with soaring sheets of guitar, chimes, a dry bass, and sprays of percussion pushing everything forward. Although there are a few small head-scratching moments (the super-dark and sparse "Domino Ladder Beta" sounds a bit out-of-place on the album), but there are plenty of moments where the group is downright hard to beat. "My Bed Is My Castle" is one of those songs, a four-minute stunner that mixes live and programmed beats with heavenly guitars and vocals that unfold beautifully over a twisting bass. Meanwhile, the album closer of "Springtime, Save Our Country" is the closest thing that I've heard to a great Cocteau Twins track from a group not going by that name. Speaking of the Cocteau Twins, the second disc in the set contains several connections to that group, including guitar work from Robin Guthrie on a great reworking of "Donimo Ladder Beta," as well as the vocal debut from Lucy Belle Guthrie (daughter of Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Frasier) on a different version of "My Bed Is My Castle." While only one of the three tracks on the second disc adds something of interest to the original, they (along with the three videos) are nice little bonuses on top of what is already a great album in and of itself. If you like dream pop, this is an album you must hunt down. (from almost cool music reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Mess up the car',
By Yosuta - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Connectivity! (Audio CD)
If you have to go into a coma, and can choose the way to go, and listening to Mahagony is an option, their album "Connectivity!" would probably be your best bet. Imagine a combination of everything good about the early 90's shoegaze movement, the Cocteau Twins and Stereolab and you'll have some idea of Mahogany's dreamy, hypnotic sound. I remember receiving nitrous oxide when I had my wisdom teeth pulled, and the last thing I said before I went under was, with a big smile on my face, "Now I know why they call it laughing gas." That's what "Connectivity!" is like, laughing gas for the ears. Buy it for someone you love today.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Kind of disappointing,
By Lypo Suck - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Connectivity! (Audio CD)
I bought this CD on the strength of a couple songs a friend had played me: the moody, beautifully atmospheric "Domino Ladder Beta (Robin Guthrie remix)" and the driving, Joy Division-esque "Supervitesse." These tracks - particularly the former - wed a dense, shimmery, swirling dream pop vibe to memorable and attractive melodies. So I snatched this up, only to find that those songs, along with a couple others, are monumentally better than the remainder of the album. The first song, "Tesselation..." is promising, with a simple but memorable melody repeating throughout while the band builds up a thick dreamy swell accompanied by quiet male/female vocals. The second track, "The View From the People Wall," takes on the band's apparent Joy Division fixation with a snappy, bass-driven track and some nice little melodic flourishes. Sadly, elsewhere, the album really breaks down due to an apparent lack of focus and/or enough good ideas to sustain an album's worth of material. As a result, it's frustratingly unfocused, inconsistent, and erratic in that many songs play the "spot the obvious influence" game. The happy, stomping, sugar-high "Neo-Plastic-Boogie-Woogie" is a bad Belle & Sebastian rip-off that sounds horribly out of place, and it also shows Mahogany's male singer to sound uncannily like Stuart Murdoch. "Mantissa" is apparently the band's blatant Broadcast/Stereolab homage, while the bombastic "My Bed is My Castle" sounds like the Arcade Fire given a dream pop bath. "Windmill International A" and "Renovo" are formless blurbs of dense atmosphere that don't really go anywhere, although the latter has potential. Overall, the album is kind of a mess. The two songs that Robin Guthrie produced are among the very best of the album, leaving one to wonder how "Connectivity" might've benefitted had he produced the whole thing. What drives this point home is the fact that also included on the album is the original, non-Guthrie-produced "Domino Ladder Beta," which is quite inferior to the Guthrie version. There *are* a few gems here, but what could've been an outstanding EP fails as a full-length. Proceed with caution.
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