Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

i gave it a 2 out of 10 and here is why:

It's quite boring and has almost no replay value to me. Musically its pretty nice for a single listen through i cannot imagine having any desire to listen to this again unless i was taking a bath or something. Dont mistake me for saying its bad, because its not. Its just not my cup of tea where underworld is related. here's my breakdown:

The first two tracks, Peach Tree, an Mowed Path I believe, work very well together but, again imo, are wildly underdeveloped. Peach Tree seems to take me right to the apex, right to the point where it can deliver some great and heavy beats but it doesnt. instead it drops us off into an OichOichy track (and my fave on here) but a downer after a 10minute buildup. I especially like the feel of the beginning of Peach Tree in the same way i like the beginning of Deep Arch. Both of these tracks have a similar held-chord loop that brings the emotion, but both of these tracks hold the same fate of dropping you off before you arrive at your destination.

Showlder is nice, but again, ill never be saying, "oh man, im in a mood to hear Showlder!"

The vocals in Wedge make me uncomfortable. I cant describe it but i get the same feeling when i hear Shakiras voice. its that muted chord sound that i cant listen to. i do not like this track at all.

100Hz (last track?) has a charm much in the same way the Avalanches piano tracks do too, but again, no desire to be charmed by it again.

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

I agree that you can barely understand the lyrics of Wedge and that it doens't work well at the beginning of that track. But when the drums kick in it becomes fitting.
The underdevelopement of some tracks... i thought that was the whole point of the RiverRun? Anyway, i don't think the tracks suffer that much from it.
Maybe i'll rate it in a few months... when i'll have listened to it more.

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

yeah, i dont really want to give the impression that i thought it was bad, but more that it wasnt my style of music. its actually quite good at having the UW sound and being unique, its just that im not fond of this particular installment. the drums at the end of Wedge do fit with the lyrics, but still to me feel underwhelming. in fact thats the common theme for me in this installment, underwhelming percussion when im expecting to be overwhelmed. its a personal preference of course, and by no means does it mean they shouldnt continue to dabble in this kind of music.

EDIT:
the last track, has a very David Lynch/Badalamenti soundtrack feel to it. couldnt place my finger on it, but it just hit me.

I feel dirty...
 

Found your comparisons to the PG EP fitting, though that is a reason for me to like this release as I LOVE everything on Pearl's Girl. I will reserve judgement on Big Sister as I've only listened to it twice. First impressions put this at a #3 ranking behind P4E and LBT, for me.

I get that sort of filthy underworld feeling towrds the end of this that I just love. Hard to explain....but it's great.

Re: I feel dirty...
 

oh reading this i really don't have much desire to download it, probably will due to collection value, but the other RR's were pretty boring IMO

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

I think that you definately have to be a fan of ambient music to dig this one. It's quite good in that aspect and I was listening to it while working and found it to be really good in the background. The fact that they have a new album coming soon tells me that they have what they feel is a crop of A-side tracks and I don't think the RR series was meant to deliver on that premise, although JAL To Tokyo was quite nice in that respect.

In all, I give this a 7/10, average. No way in hell though do I give this or any of the other installments higher, nor do I think they expect that I don't think. There were a whole lot of good ideas expressed though the various RR releases but good ideas don't always make good songs and I know this -- I have about 100 good ideas on my studio HD myself, and they're going nowhere. :)

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

This is just flowing with style. It's fucking gorgeous -- I can see why it's boring for some, but I eat this stuff right up. Easily my favorite of the three releases so far.

Not anything I'd expect on their next album, but damn if it isn't beautiful.

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

a little too mellow for my tastes,
i listened to it, and didn't notice to
much activity in it..

if this is the last riverun, then i'd be
disappointed..

taking the three together as a whole
makes it ok (i hope the mix is better)..

i still think the first release was the best.

4/10

later
-1

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

Have listened to it for a few days now to properly wrap my head around the new music (as with almost everything U/W), and think it's simply beautiful and hypnotic....
"Peach Tree" and "11 Hundred Hz." is worthy enough to be slotted any album, for sure....

Re: BIG Sister Poll...
 

There is definitely a much greater focus on the ambient sound aspect of the work in this one than in previous releases, although that may just be because the work as a whole is more understated.

It's going to be very interesting to see which bits from RR are selected out for the album and how they're connected back together (and whether the album is released as a continuous-sounding mix or discrete tracks). With one more RR release they could have enough for a double album, or even two albums (one soft, one loud?)!