Black Foliage: Animation Music By The Olivia Tremor Control
Black Foliage: Animation Music by the Olivia Tremor Controlis a triumph of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production, and by track 14 even the sink is fair game. Like 1996'sDusk at Cubist Castle: Music from the Unrealized Film,Black FoliagemergesBeatles-esque melodies, lyrics, and quirky instrumentation, such as odd bleats of trumpet, crazy xylophone tinkling, toy pianos, and anything else within arm's reach.  Stretching this sort of trip-out to more than an hour is a bit much--hell, even the Beatles only tried to do that once--but if broken up into smaller bites,Black Foliagehas its rewards. On the ether-dizzy "Paranormal Echoes" OTC manages to play with all of their toys at once and yet keep them in line to produce a mind-numbingly beautiful and strange composition. The whole shebang is tied together with aurally disorienting interludes, occasionally disrupting the flow but never for long.  In other words: happy songs, crazy arrangements, terrific fun.--Jason Josephes