Review: Giant Eyeball/ItsyBtsySpydr Split

artist: giant eyeball / ItsyBtsySpydr album: split (ep) label: ash from sweat records released: by: eduardo moutinho The world of noise music is becoming more and more popular nowadays, especially within our localized Colorado scene. Maybe it’s the experimental nature of the music, or maybe it's the artistic element that’s involved which interests people. Nevertheless, noise music is here to stay for the meantime, if you like it or not. Hot off the heels of their EP release, Giant Eyeball is back by means of a split with another noise project, ItsyBtsySpydr. This new release is as eccentric as ever, and I guess it would be best for me to review it as two separate parts. Firstly, the packaging is quite simplistic. The slim CD jewel case is adorned with an interesting picture depicting the band names, and inside, there are two inserts with song titles and acknowledgments from each band. The CD itself was decorated with a few elementary school sticker stars. Anyway, onto the music. The first six tracks on the offering are all Giant Eyeball. The music seems to have gone through an (expected) evolution. The tempos are more varied and I think the new tracks would appeal to a broader audience. Some songs came out of the blue, such as the dark and subdued “go take a piss, right now.” The song itself utilizes a twangy guitar, playing notes that don’t necessarily go together, yet at some points the song almost resembles some kind of twisted ballad. I’m not positive, but I think the group managed to use an even wider menagerie of instruments when making the new songs. Instruments used include guitars, bongo drums, maracas, a celing fan, a bottle of Jack Daniels, cymbals, and their voices. Nevertheless, I find the new songs to be more enjoyable. ItsyBtsySpydr takes over after track seven and finishes off the record. The music exhibited by this young man (ItsyBtsySpydr is a one-person entity) is even more on the eccentric and unusual side. The songs are very synthetic and are harder to follow. There are a variety of pauses in each track, and there are a lot of random sections in each song. Overall, I didn’t seem to enjoy the music during this section of the split. I guess this is a case of the music being a little too abstract for my taste. Plus, the tempo was slower throughout most of the songs, and the sounds were less emphatic. I guess you can “chill” to this a little more than you can with most music. For me, that’s not the kind of music I enjoy listening to. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting set of tracks worth listening to at least a couple of times. This split is a release for the more liberal kind of listener. For those who don’t enjoy or are unwilling to listen to unorthodox music, don’t even come close to this. For everyone else, this is a really good release to wrap your brain around. favorite song: “quick, think of something funny” rating: 75%/100%