Chore of Enchantment

A completely unremarkable album. It's one of those albums where even Wikipedia struggled to say anything remarkable about this unremarkable album. Favorite Track: "Raw".

I got recommended an ungodly amount of Americana/Alt-Country this last week so I guess it is time to finally catch up on it all. This is some of the most plain chicken and rice Americana I have ever had the displeasure of hearing. Literally nothing happens during the entirety of this 58 minute project. I genuinely think Giant Sand must have put a gun to the 1001 albums to hear before you die author's head to include this album because he must have been fucking tweaking if he liked this. The compositions are objectively bad, especially on Temptation of Egg, and it is just a giant nothing burger of an album. What an absolute waste of my time and to add insult to injury, it is one of the longer releases on this god damn list.

Favorite track(s): Shiver, Satellite I'll blame the White Stripes album I listened to right before this for frying my attention span. I mostly recall a vocalist who sounded like Lou Reed in the style of Billie Eilish.

Can't say I actively hated it, it just didn't draw me in at all. Utterly forgotten as soon as it was over.

So this list represents such classic legendary albums like The Beatles Sgt Peppers, Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and Michael Jackson's Thriller. Albums that will be around long after we are all dead. But then this list is loaded with shit like this. Albums that at least for me, I will forget it, as soon as I can make it through it.

This sounds more like a collection of demos and half-explored musical ideas than a finished product. A couple of the songs were ok but most of it felt underdeveloped. Maybe the artist was trying to make a statement, or maybe the musical ideas just didn’t lead anywhere. To me it comes off as lazy rather than inspired.

There is a pleasing AMSR quality to Howe Gelb's close-miked vocals, but, in order for the effect to work, he can do no more than lightly graze the contour of a melody. His approach to writing a poetic lyric is equally hands off. The brushed drums sound great. The twanging guitars sound good. Occasionally, everything will be swarmed by a hideous haze of synths. And none of it adds to up to very much. 1.5 I have very little to say about Howe Gelb’s songwriting here. The lyrics feel like spontaneous scribbles in a journal; a more or less meaningless spray of words that might be useful as prompts when the proper business of writing a lyric begins later. However, these are delivered as if they might be something more than that, indeed with an air of meaningfulness - grim meaningfulness. If the listener is generous enough to give a little inattention - why this might pass for Waits or even Cohen, no? Well I was ungenerous enough to not only attend to this but actually to look up some of the lyrics afterwards. I do understand that Howe was pressed for time, having dozens more albums to make, but releasing this stuff was a waste of other people’s. When you have nothing to say, say nothing - you should know that by the time you are 43. That goes for his music as well. There are traces of melody here and there but nothing that is done a disservice by the banal backing music (although a couple of different shades of banal, to be fair). Self-important. Sad. 1/5

I quite liked this, while also thinking it sounded like half a dozen other indie-Americana bands from this era. (Make your own 'we've got Lambchop/Bill Callahan/Bonnie Prince Billy at home' jokes.)

didn't listen to it

Would make for a great advertisement for a furniture store because it’s Sofa King boring.

Fine. Kind of all ran together for me. Maybe I would like this more back in college when it was released? Feels like something that would be recommended to me at a party or a bar.

Very nice, will have to check out more. Kind of Leonard Cohen meets Smog or something like that.

Oh, yeah. This is my type of shit. I was initially not excited to listen, but I really liked it.

Reminds me of Smog, Lambchop

It was nothing crazy but an ok listen

2.6

𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 sounds as though it has spent years gathering dust somewhere in the Arizona desert. The guitars are loose, the rhythms are unhurried, and the whole album has that wonderfully weathered Americana atmosphere. I like the sound, even if I occasionally wish the music would get moving. Unfortunately, the album overstays its welcome. What initially feels charmingly laid-back gradually becomes rather meandering, and Howe Gelb’s voice doesn’t exactly help. His half-sung, half-muttered delivery certainly has personality, but it’s an acquired taste I’m not sure I’ve fully acquired. There’s a good album hiding somewhere in all that dust, but it could have benefited from a little trimming. 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 has its moments of enchantment. Unfortunately, by the end, the chore part starts to take over.

Listened to this on a rainy late night car ride. It fit the mood very well

Chill! But failed to leave an impression. Still, I like this, it was a relaxing, easy album to get through.

Notable Textzeile: And it is with great human affiliation It is with great human alienation It is with great human evacuation And it is with great human anticipation Da Zappo (RIP) 2014 Howe Gelb zu den Theaterformen geholt hat, habe ich nicht nur den Text den er dazu geschrieben hat in diverse Onlineportale eingepflegt, sondern habe auch das ein oder andere Giant Sand Lied gehört - in der Vorbereitung. Da ich noch kein Spotify hatte bin ich aber noch so in die Tiefe gegangen. An den Liveauftritt habe ich nur sehr dunkle Erinnerungen, ich vermute ich saß irgendwo weiter weg, hab Bier getrunken und mit Wolle und Mats gequatscht, aber hab es wohlwollend zur Kenntnis genommen. Aber genug der autobiographischen Erinnerungen - mir gefällt das Album sehr, es hat eine dunkle Energie, die aber nicht um ihrer selbst willen da ist, sondern weil sie die Songs tragen soll. Die sind okay abwechslungsreich und weniger Country als befürchtet und dafür immer mal wieder schön verschroben. Die Lyrics auch überdurchschnittlich poetisch, abgedreht, cool. Mir fällt nix negatives ein oder auf. #livegesehen #braunschweig #inteilen

Ist eigentlich dokumentiert ob Sven Regner mal im Westen der USA war und Giant Sand gehört hat und beschlossen hat, dasselbe auf Deutsch zu machen? Dass giant sand einflussreich für Calexico und Bright Eyes und Bon Iver waren, wusste ich irgendwie. Aber ich verstehe jetzt warum: das ist dichter, direkter, aber auch cool gemacht. Lofi Alt Americana? Desert Chanson? Goth Country? Egal. Gefällt Ich bin sehr positiv überrascht, hatte hier eher so anstrengenden alt southern rock erwartet.

Was a decent album to have on whilst working, didn't interfere with work

Cool experimental album kind of bland

Baaaaa actually the best thing this site has turned me on to after like 200 albums

There was nothing good nor inherently bad about this album. It just was. It was like listening to purgatory.

Pretty big variety of sounds I fw it

Everyone needs to chill out man, I think this was a perfectly nice record. A very specific type of music that's hard to pin down, but sort of that Eels, Yo La Tengo, alt-dude thing. Which I tend to like. It's a little overblown and could do with some trimming of the fat, but generally I liked this. Sue me.

Giant Sand - Chore of Enchantment From a not convinced start, I sick this on while mowing, weeding and seeding. And the more I listened, the more I loved it. Perhaps being outside, exposed and totally wrapped up in my solitude, made me more receptive to the intimacy of this album. It was genuinely like Howe was singing just for me. It is definitely an album that gets better and better as the tracks slip by, but the album does come over as a whole rather than picking out individual tracks. Highlights for me, though, we're Raw, Shiver, Dirty From the Rain, No Reply, Satellite, Way to End the Day.....second half of the album really. The it ends on the beautiful little vignette of Shrine. Best Track - Astonished Worst Track - isnt one but Temptation of Egg 8.5/10

Giant Sand – Chore of Enchantment (2000) On Day 294, this record ended a long streak of solid listens with an absolute dud a completely forgettable, aggressively mid session that fully earned a bottom-tier rating. The vocals were thoroughly lazy, relying on a disengaged, mumbling delivery that carried zero weight or melodic appeal. The production felt equally careless, throwing three different producers and a scattershot mess of dry desert sounds, loose acoustics, and jarring fuzz against the wall just to see what would stick. Rather than creating an evocative Southwestern atmosphere, the album meandered with no sense of structural payoff or focus. A genuine chore to sit through. A flat 1/5.

meh

flüster folk schon ok c

Moody and decent album. I don't have anything more to say. 😑

The album started off pretty cool, but later I regretted not taking a nap instead. 2 stars

It's not bad but it's just so boring. The singers voice is just so bland. It's like if you had some nice roast chicken and you go in for a bite and realise it's unseasoned.

Very nick cave. Not a good thing

First thought- Two fuckin' hours!? That's a chore alright. I've seen Howe Gelb live, not sure I'm up for two hours of that on a studio album. First couple of songs are grabbing me though, that's good! It's got its ups and downs. Some I really liked, some I skipped. There's 40 minutes of a great album here.

2.5

This was a cool album! Very Bill Callahan/Nick Cave/Lou Reed almost. Interesting sound and vocals. I think it's missing a wow moment that would bring it to another level. But a nice listen.

es ist okay das album

Unfortunately a mostly accurate title

So boring and way too long

It wasn't cool when Tom Waits did it either. The musical arrangement is great, but the singer/talker guy just isn't it for me.

3/5. Rare case where I’ve never heard of the album or artist at all before going into my record of the day on here which is always exciting. And this one was a solid time! It very much wears its influences on its sleeves, the slacker-rock/alt-country stylings of artists like Silver Jews is all over this thing (though the frontman of this band lacks the lyricism and wit of David Berman.) but there’s some good songs on here that feel appropriate for a lazy morning like “Astonished (In Memphis)” with its laid back guitar outro or the more rocking “Satellite.” Not among the best albums in this style but I was still glad to discover this one.

The straight forward folk rock stuff here is kind of boring, but there are times when this album gets weird and more experimental and I like those moments more.

For the first few songs of this album, it felt like pleasant yet kind of boring alt-folk. Then "1972" came on and it all changed. That song was more "alternative rock" sounding. It's a quick song and then "Temptation of Egg" came on and I was totally won over. How gloriously bizarre! It's more alt-rock sounding again, a female voice pops out of nowhere, there are industrial mechanical sounds a in the background along with a whole bunch of sounds I can't identify, and the lyrics are totally surreal. The next song, "Raw," is probably my favorite. It's another weird one, but mostly just the singer and a piano. It has lyrics like "The beat up tin I'd like to call my car / Would deliver me and all to only a lonely bar / And I would ponder this disease like a peeling onion skin striptease / And I would live to let it win / When I was raw / When I was wrong." Working through that, trying to get some meaning from it, felt like brain yoga. Relaxing, yet stretching the boundaries. I thought the next two songs were okay, and then there was another really good one: "Dirty from the Rain." Most of what follows is that less-interest alt-folk thing that started off the album. If this were an EP of my favorite 5 or 6 songs, I'd give it full marks. But as an hour-long album, with half the songs kinda boring and the other half remarkably strange and thought-provoking? 3 stars. I'd be happy to listen to more from Giant Sand, though. I'd never even heard of them before this project and I'm glad this album is a part of it.

Not exciting for me personally

A third of the album title was accurate. Top track: "X-Tra Wide"

fuck this shit. 1

--Overture...overture --(Well) Dusted (For the Millennium)...kind of a Tom Waits thing --Punishing Sun...minimalist Americana. not bad but I don't think I can take a full hour of this --X-Tra Wide... maybe this guy could try actually singing --1972...some noise rock --Temptation of Egg...holy shit dude, would you stop mumble-whispering and just sing something? the production is cool --Raw...heavy sigh. it is pretty but I find the front man's disinterested vocals, well, uninteresting --Wolfy...we switch things up with a trip-hop beat. Howe Gelb even does some actual singing! some --Shiver...radio-friendly slide guitar tune --Dirty from the Rain...the whisper-singing complements the guitar tone nicely here --Astonished (In Memphis)...bored (in my living room) --No Reply...give me the Beatles' "No Reply" --Satellite...seven minutes of noise rock. yay --Bottom Line Man...piano is nice, I guess --Way to End the Day...the title means this is the last track, right? it's not. --Shrine...I think we're done here

A couple of years ago, I was listening to Guy Garvey’s show on BBC 6 Music. I love Sunday afternoons: sitting around the kitchen table, reading the Guardian, chilling out with the dogs, and listening to some great curated music on the radio. I discover so much new music through 6 Music. A lot of the Sunday presenters in particular happen to have very similar musical tastes to me, so I’m ready with that Shazam button on my phone’s homescreen when I’m listening. That’s how “Temptation of Egg” ended up on my Shazam playlist on Spotify. It was the first song that Guy Garvey played on his show that morning, and I had to know what the hell I’d just listened to. It’s a simple, jazzy melody, predominantly just a fragmented keyboard riff, with a woman’s soft vocals being offset by a gruff male voice. And then, out of nowhere, all of the crazy noises start to happen. It sounds like a glitchy Kaoss pad is attacking the song, akin to something Jonny Greenwood would play towards the end of “Go To Sleep”. It’s absolutely nutty and I love it. That last sentence sums up the rest of the album too. It starts with operatic singing that quickly descends into synth and random sound effects. Dark acoustic tones, dissonance, white noise, wonky warbling synth, strings, metal, distortion and so much more are all thrown at us without warning. It's impossible to guess what's next, and Giant Sand seem completely unconcerned with settling on one single musical direction. Howie Gelb’s voice brings the one bit of consistency in the album. His vocals are minimalist, almost spoken-word, sitting somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Bill Callahan. In a way, the lo-fi messiness and artistic irreverence reminds me of Pavement, if they were more into country than rock.

Not my thing, pretty boring.

I was concerned when I saw 16 songs, but some are mere moments. I have some Giant Sand songs - “Temptation of Egg,” on which Julianna Hatfield’s voice is a nice touch, “Raw,” and bonus tack “Hard on Things” are songs I downloaded when iPods were around. I enjoy their weird, quiet, western type sound. However, I admit it’s not for everyone. I like “Dusted” but some were too stripped down for the quiet voice. “X-Tra Wide” lyrics amused me. “1972” is a punkish, little palate cleanser. “Wolfy”’s slinky beat drew me in. The opera bits were a surprise. “Satellite” was a welcome borderline headbanger.

I really didn’t like this one. Quite annoying and not as interesting as it thinks it is. Functional alt folk rock but annoying about ir

There really isn’t much to commend about this record. I’d hoped for another gem, but…

Kuuntelin töissä mutta loppui työpäivä kesken :D

To describe this as unremarkable would be overselling it. What the hell?

I completely relate to the comment I saw that called this a "chore of listening". Another entry on this list that makes no sense why it's included. At least the music is listenable and has some structure but super uninspiring vocals.

I heard these lyrics - "I count the staining gum spots; if you connect those dots they spell your name" - but I thought "gum" was another word. I was ready to give 1 star from this lyric alone. I'm glad I double checked before I rated.

Just a bit dull and boring for me.

Not to my taste.

heard some nick cave, wilco, yo la tengo, even B52s???? favorites were Punishing Sun, Shiver, Dirty from the Rain, and Bottom Line Man. Dirty from the Rain and Bottom Line Man were so tender! Wish the rest of the album was more like those. I found the first half of the album pretty boring, liked the second half a lot more.

so boring

Rather good - lots of subtleties; some great lyrics. A grower.

Enjoyed this much more than i expected. Lou Reed doing experimentsl country.

A little weird for the sake of it, but I saw the appeal pop through every once in a while. Would not relisten but didn’t hate myself

Fucking hell MAKE AN EFFORT. Obviously better than Pink fucking Floyd but suuuuper lazy stuff.

Sort of like Wilco crossed with the curse from Sleeping Beauty that puts you unconscious for 1,000 years But in, like, kind of a neat way, maybe

I mean, it's okay, and while I don't fully understand its place on this list, the consistent, gloomy, run-down country-rock sound is at least semi-enjoyable. I do wish the songs were more fleshed out; I can't really recall a single memorable track. Semi-memorable moments, yes, but everything just blends into one another, especially near the middle. The main issue for me is the monotonous vocals that sit somewhere between Lou Reed and Bill Callahan, but without the character that makes those two so great. And this thing just feels so slow and spacey, which is usually fine, but the sonic palette and instrumentation here weren't super engaging. That's just a roundabout way of saying this was definitely too long and boring; it makes me not want to dive into the lyrics as much as maybe I should. If I had to name a favourite track, it'd be 'Shiver'; it feels like the most singular track here, a decent acoustic-driven alt rock cut with some solid vocals. I just don't understand the placement here; it's a sort of an energy killer with very little to latch on to. The worst part is there were so many better indie acts that were completely left off this list.

Another reason why more and more this list should have been 101. This is in the 900+ that don't need to be here. 1.0

Nineteen seventy-one Nineteen seventy-two Nineteen seventy- ...Nope

This is what dissociation sounds like

Dá sa to počúvať, ale ničím výnimočným to nie je...

Meh, it was boring

ok

There are too many songs. And they tend to go on and on. Very tiresome. Reminds me of Sparklehorse somehow but it's not in the same league by any measure. There is very little to enjoy on this album. 2/5

Dullsville, Arizona.

Actually pretty good, quiet indy music.

2/5

Kinda alright.

I enjoyed this one but I only listened to track 16 since that's what the wiki shows as the original album.

1 star It is the musical equivalent of listening to a hipster talk about the reasons they love going to Burning Man every year. It’s insufferable and I couldn’t wait for it to end.

No

Interesting album with really good lyrics but a sort of dry vocal delivery. The music is really good and probably my favorite part of the album since the vocals are a bit odd. Never heard them before today and I can kind of see why. Seems kind of niche and artsy. I did enjoy listening to this despite some criticism.

Almost interesting

A lot of variety, and most of it is pretty good! But why's it gotta be so long 😭

Some interesting parts, but nothing too crazy. 2.5 rounded up to 3.

Extremely good. Silver Jews-y (Silver Jewish?) songs abound. Right in my wheelhouse.

Interesting, but probably won't listen again

You can't put "Chore" in the title and then sing like that. It's not bad but I do want it to end. 2.5/5

Seriously, 2 hours of this.

Very enjoyable without ever grabbing me. Shiver was the clear standout for me. Felt like a bunch of deep cuts on albums from other bands I'd like. Good vibes, but not standout songs.

I definitely get why Mr. 1001 Guy likes this record, but I'd rather have a different Country-ish Alt-Rock artist on this list like The Drive-By Truckers or Songs: Ohia. These guys sound like a few other artists on this list but the singer has a slightly more pronounced southern accent. There are a few great songs, especially when they totally diverge from the main sound of the album on songs like Satellite or the opener, but as a whole it gets an "I guess." from me.

This was pretty solid and very chill. Good stuff.

I don't know why these people get so much hate.

Jag gillade nog detta mer än jag först trodde. Det är en genre som jag ändå uppskattar. Det saknas kanske någon riktigt wow-låt. Men ändå tillräckligt behagligt och njutbart. Har lyssnat rätt mycket, vilket är ett gott tecken.

Душевно )

This Wilco/Drive by Truckers adjacent down tempo indie is from a past time where mysterious and minimalist music was unique. Now its just aggravating. So sloppy, lazy and kind of unimaginative. Theres some charm with the acoustic melodies and instrumentals. But that breathy art douche voice is agonizing. And squanders any clout.

Rather boring, lots of noise for the sake of noise.

3/10 - very mediocre, just not my thing

Another 3.5 elevated to 4. Sounds like Beck or They Might Be Giants or POTUSA trying to do a rock Massive Attack album, or Trip Hop in general.