My Own Biggest Fan

Yup, I’m cruising right along here with MONM. Two albums in 12 days. Sigh.

I was expecting more from Tycho.

I’m primarily familiar with Scott Hanson as ISO 50. It seems he’s been making posters and selling shirts under that name since forever. I never thought to listen to the music he made as Tycho until today. I liked it, but it felt very “surface” to me. There are some beautiful Boards of Canada-esque textures on this, and the beats are pleasant. The problem was that at no time did I feel like I was being challenged by the music or even pulled from what I was doing to really listen to it. Even when I stopped myself from puttering around the house and take it in, I found I couldn’t recall any part of any song that actually stuck out to me.

I understand that some music isn’t meant to be catchy and hooky, some is meant to let your mind wander around and meditate through. I’m a big appreciator of that type of thing. The problem is is that this rode a line between those two areas and I felt that it didn’t excel at either.

Who knows, maybe I’m not “getting it” yet. I’ll give it a couple more listens I’m sure, but I have my doubts that I’ll be recommending it to anyone for anything but background music.

Do I sense a trend here? I hope this doesn’t continue. I have what I expect to be a barn-burner of an album up for my 3rd MONM pick.