Search - Secret Square :: Secret Square

Great album for the Elephant Six'er who has them all

Jessica Murphy | Easton, CT United States | 12/31/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Secret Square is the type of band you admire for their ambition and uncompromising sense of individuality. This album is very conceptual and quirky in the traditional Elephant Six way, full of strange chords, exotic instruments, and (like Olivia Tremor Control) an everchanging pace and tempo. This record is a bit harder to get into than any OTC CDs, and especially more complex and edgier than anything by the sunnier, poppier labelmates The Apple in Stereo. However, if you are an experienced E6er, looking for something even riskier and more raw than OTC, Secret Square is certainly a band to check out."

Switchbladed sword fish gone astray

S. R Robertson | Oh Henry? | 03/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"beautiful music somewhere between Sonic Youth, Stereolab and the rest of the Elephant 6. There is a mixture of melancholia, indescribable almost samba-tropical esque, and strange ezperimental tones on the album;;;these all within the simple indie rock lo-fi style. Very little drums, when they are around they add to the odd effect. Very transcendantal, very beautiful overall... the stream-of-conciousness lyrics, almost banjo-like lead guitars, and spaceage sounds add to the psychadelic effect. The lo-fi 8-track/4-track production gives it that raw, unpolished moment of inspiration while dosed up on mind expanding drugs feel that marks their fellow counterparts Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power and The Gerbils; not to mention the headstarters of the lo-fi genre, Guided By Voices. Probably the most beautiful thing in the Elephant 6 collective, even while lacking the wild near-cartoonish sound experiments that made Olivia Tremor Control so unique....this is becuz the songs have this lush, spaced-out stellar sound ala Sonic Youth and Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine that makes you wanna cry. If this is your first ticket into the Elephant 6 collective, get Olivia Tremor Control (amazing beyond recognition), Neutral Milk Hotel (warped archaic mixture of dream-drenched folk and haunting old timey instruments), Beuhlah (layered pretty alternative music/Beatles-style pop music with a Beckish twist)and the collection of mostly song-oriented but still entertaining Elf Power THe Gerbils etc. Theses bands are truly in a world all their own, a planet marked by lo-fi production/tearworthy melodies/eerie sound explorations. A spectral dive worth taking. Furthermore, I don't feel like writing individual reviews for each of these artists, so just look into it."