Search - The Creatures :: Hai (Bonus Dvd)

Hai (Bonus Dvd)
The Creatures
Hai (Bonus Dvd)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1


     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: The Creatures
Title: Hai (Bonus Dvd)
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Instinct Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2003
Re-Release Date: 10/21/2003
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Hardcore & Punk, Goth & Industrial, New Wave & Post-Punk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 720841061922
 

CD Reviews

More visceral thrills from Siouxsie and Budgie
Bruce Hodges | New York, NY | 01/07/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Working in collaboration with Leonard Eto, a remarkable Japanese drummer, this is one of Siouxsie and Budgie's best releases since "Boomerang." The addition of Eto is a natural fit, both with Budgie's throbbing percussion and Siouxsie's ethereal voice. My favorite tracks so far are "Godzilla" (clearly a hit), "Imagoro" (ditto) and the opening percussion-filled "Say Yes" which has Budgie and Eto hammering away gloriously for a few minutes before Siouxsie finally enters, to dramatic effect. Naysayers may think some of the tracks sound too much alike, and they wouldn't be completely wrong. (I'm not among them.) If this project might be "too much of too little" for some, most Creatures fans will delight in the chemistry between these three outstanding musicians. Sound quality is excellent, with the percussion sounding very "present" but not boomy, and other effects swirling around in great electronic clouds. I hope these three decide to tour with this so we can hear these tracks live. This recording definitely seems like a new artistic direction for the duo, and more power to them. Meanwhile, crank up your sound system and enjoy."
The auditory equivalent of being snow blind
loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 03/15/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)

"This exploration of Japanese themed music on "Hai!" strikes many interesting chords with the powerful drumming that energizes and defines the songs, the chants and shouts, cultural touchstones (e.g., Godzilla, City Island, Tantara). Collaborators Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie manage to harness enough energy for a good ride, but after a couple of listens, the territory appears the same and the result is the auditory equivalent of being snow blind. That is, the songs tend to blend together, melded by the wonderful drumming, and they inhabit a middle space without any soaring moments or any dreadful stumbles save the second half of the final song.



This consistency on "Hai!" yields a CD that is one the one hand unified and level but on the other a bit numbing for listening straight through. I think these tracks works better fragmented and scattered among other music (e.g., compilation, noncommercial radio, DJ) than as a block.

"
Say yes!
Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 09/30/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Creatures came about in March 1981 when Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded a piece called But Not Them for their next album which turned out only to involve Siouxsie and Budgie. This accidental pairing soon turned into a side project and instead of appearing on JuJu, the remixed track turned up in September 1981 on the Wild Things EP by the newly christened offshoot the Creatures. An exotic album recorded in Hawaii called Feast followed in 1983, then in 1989, Boomerang, recorded in Cadiz. Anima Animus came after a ten year gap on their own Sioux label, by which time the pair were married and living in France.

Hai! (meaning 'Yes!') came about because the Creatures had a chance to work with legendary ex-Kodo drummer Leonard Eto in Tokyo. The spontaneous drum-duet improvisations were recorded in one Anglo-Japanese marathon at Gok Sound Studios on 19 August 2002 in a "spiritual symbiosis" between Budgie and Eto's Taiko rhythms. Budgie's contributions include marimba, yueh ch'in, percussion and synthétiques, some of it added back at Maison Néko in France whilst the piece was being edited down to the fifty minutes on the finished album, along with Siouxsie's swooping vocal melodies and words, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes playfully theatrical, as on Godzilla! The result is a minor minimalist triumph: "No more maybe, no more could be, say yes!" - Siouxsie"