Track Listing
1. Opera House, The
2. Frosted Ambassador
3. Jumping Fences
4. Define a Transparent Dream
5. No Growing (Exegesis)
6. Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3
7. Courtyard
8. Memories of Jacqueline 1906
9. Tropical Bells
10. Can You Come Down With Us?
11. Marking Time
12. Green Typewriters
13. Spring Succeeds
14. Theme For a Very Delicious Grand Piano
15. I Can Smell the Leaves
16. Dusk at Cubist Castle
17. Gravity Car, The
18. NYC-25
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Jeff Mangum, Robert Schneider | | Producer: | Robert Schneider | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
DUSK AT CUBIST CASTLE, previously consisting of 2 discs, is now available with only the first disc which contains the song "Green Typewriters," comprised of 10 tracks. Disc 2 had contained nine ambient instrumental tracks.
The Olivia Tremor Control: Bill Doss, W. Cullen Hart, Eric Harris, John Fernandes.
The Elephant 6 Orchestra: Jeff Mangum (vocals, slide guitar, chanter pipe, piano, melodica); Robert Schneider (vocals, melodica, bass, Tibetan prayer bowl); Julian Koster (acoustic & bowed electric guitars, saw); Steve Jacobek (trumpet); Rick Benjamin (trombone);
Recorded between 1993 and 1996.
Armed with a knack for hooky pop, plenty of psychedelic weirdness, and every instrument under the sun, Olivia Tremor Control burst into the collective pop consciousness with DUSK AT CUBIST CASTLE. Whether or not the claim that the album is the "soundtrack to an unrealized film" is literally true, this dizzying collection of songs certainly conjures up images of some great, lost, trippy '60s flick. With this album's 1996 arrival, the Elephant 6 revolution was fully under way. The indie-pop collective that also included Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples in Stereo, and others, would make the indie-rock world safe for '60s-influenced psych-pop, and CUBIST CASTLE is one of that movement's flagship releases.
While close vocal harmonies, quirky guitar and piano riffs, and perky rhythms abound; it's OTC's ability to incorporate unconventional sounds and atmospheres into their work that sets them apart from most of their peers. Highly textured, ambient soundscapes intermingle freely with the band's joyously left-field pop tunes, each enhancing the impact of the other. In fact, the first pressing of the album included a bonus disc of ambient instrumentals in the vein of the group's subsequent side project the Black Swan Network.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #37 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Village Voice (02/25/1997)
Ranked #42 in NME's 1996 critics' poll.
NME
...Make up your own hookah dreams to go with OTC's four-track strolls through late-'60s Beatles-y flipsville...
Rolling Stone (12/26/1996)
8 (out of 10) - ...Yep, you've guessed it, it's a concept album! With one crucial difference--it's totally fantastic....these men are experts at combining the absurd with the uplifting...
NME (09/21/1996)
3 Stars (out of 5) - ...force-feeding the most lysergically drenched moments from the halcyon daze of the Beach Boys, Beatles and sundry Nuggets-fodder...through a '90s filter to devastating effect....a soundscape where anything can, and frequently does, happen...
Q (12/01/1996)
4 (out of 5) - ...a perfect psych-pop explosion....the fuzz is defined by percussive effects, perfect hooks and strong, melodic singing...
Alternative Press (10/01/1996)
8 (out of 10) - ...Yep, you've guessed it, it's a concept album! With one crucial difference--it's totally fantastic....these men are experts at combining the absurd with the uplifting...
NME (09/21/1996)
DUSK lays the tape-loop goop on extra-thick and tops it off with a syrupy, low-frequency hum....Meant to ensure we'll turn off our minds, relax and float downstream.
Magnet
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