Friday 20 April 2012

The "DoDo Project": The Album!


At last it’s here!!

The ‘DoDo Project’ is a complete performance of Aimee Mann’s 2000 Album Bachelor No. 2 or the Last Remains Of The Dodo, put together by Ymaginatif and Maceo in the first four months of 2012.

Ymaginatif recorded guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and vocals at home (at moments when the baby was asleep), and sent the masters to Maceo who then provided some more vocals and took care of mixing and valuable post-production (also at home and at moments when the baby was asleep).

The result is a wildly varied and out-of-character album (Ymaginatif’s second virtual album), purely for your entertainment and in honour, not only of Aimee Mann’s superb lyrics and song-writing, but also of www.entropymc.com (and its creator) for providing the playground of the people involved.

 (artwork by Maxim)

Side 1:

1. How Am I Different (Brion-Mann)
2. Nothing Is Good Enough
3. Red Vines
4. The Fall Of the World’s Own Optimist (Costello-Mann)
5. Satellite
6. Deathly
7. Ghost World

Side 2:

1. Calling It Quits
2. Susan
3. It Takes All Kinds (Brion-Mann)
4. Save Me
5. You Do
6. Backfire
7. Just Like Anyone




Let us know what you think! :)

4 comments:

  1. Just here now....

    Back later with my synopsis

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  2. As the best way to experience music is to listen and nothing is like listening for the first time, here’s a real time impression of the sounds falling out of my PC from Y…
    Side one
    Neil Young meets the beatles – crazy horse vibe with fab 4 harmonies…..
    Y sounds more ringo than George.. but there’s an honesty to the delivery.
    And John Lennon singing the hook.. “howwwww am I different”
    More Beatles resounding through the gentle melody ofnothing is good enough… Strawberry Fields?
    David Bowie makes an appearance in “The Fall of the World’s Optimist”
    Funk guitars and a bass solo…. And biscuit tin drums.. and a young Elvis Costello singing away.. Deathly shimmies and snarls ( well as much as a polite young man from the Benelux hinterland can)
    Ghost world drifts by with a synthetic trumpet offering a coda to part one..
    An incredible achievement gentle people, trouble is I’m now torn between listening to part 2 or digging out the Aimee Mann CD ( Yes, Y, I obtained her back catalogue in a typical PB 2nd hand store deal after you waxed lyrically about her talents….)
    And I’m supposed to be compiling musical tapestries for a friend’s wedding reception…
    But, Entropy Duty calls, so part 2 it is
    Cut up swathes of guitar give way to Darth Vader singing backing to Paul McCartney on Calling it Quits.
    Then we get Maceo counting Y in for “Susan”, plaintive and moving voice and guitar supplemented by a nice retro squelch of keyboard sprinkled sparingly in the mix, along with a splatter of bass.. excellent production, a highlight, esp. the reggae tinge to the middle 8..
    Then a change of style to a very new wave snap , cheesy keyboards, kick drum and squalling almost out of tune guitar – It’s power pop Y style! Backfire doesn’t!
    Am thinking Todd Rundgren on it takes all kinds – and that is high praise as I consider him to be a Musical God, one of my Pantheon of genius musical heroes, alongside Waits, Page, Hendrix , et al.
    Rundgren channels his inner Beatle well in his production works and this follows a Bourgeois Tagg guide ( go do your research..  )
    I can see why people are captivated by “Save Me” – it’s soul , Jim, but not as we know it – impassioned understatement says more and means more than histrionic shouting..
    You feel the pain here, willing the subject to do the right thing and answer his plea..
    The melody and mix spiral around each other, the piano emerging triumphant, framed by the fragile emotive pleadings of the protagonist, who now has a hint of stell to him, and is driving the point home in a faintly menacing way. Perhaps his pleas are not for salvation as we know it, but a darker, more disturbing release?
    Then in counterpoint, a simple song, a guitar and a voice for Just like anyone… a love song that sonds joyful and innocent after the dark undercurrent of the preceding one.
    Then we approach the chequered flag, “you do”, a bitter sweet tome warning of the perils of falling of a bad’ un… Aimee’s version could be a warning from one ex lover to a current one, so where does this leave Y????

    And on that bombshell…

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  3. More than melodies or rhythm what really is at the heart of this project is desire. Desire to accomplish something for one's self, to feed the inner ID. I can only wonder what Ms. Mann herself might come up with given the same tools to work with. Meaning: could she come up with something that sounds this good without a real studio to lean on ? I think not! I can only imagine what Y may come up with next, but I hope it's an album of original material made up of tracks inspired by his other favorite artists weaving them into a soundscape of brave cutting edge creativity.

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