Cheap Pelican City vs. Scanner EP (Music) (Pelican City / Scanner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pelican City vs. Scanner EP

So 'effin sweet
This is a fantastic piece of work. Four songs and about 26 minutes long, this EP gives you more depth and atmosphere than most full-length albums can even hint at. The "official" review notes that this is very soundtrack-esque, and frankly that description is spot on. As I listen to this, I get all these images swirling around in my head and I want to go out and create some sweet short film just so I can apply this music to it. There's an overwhelmingly cinematic feel to this EP.

The disc starts out with "Russian Roulette" as done by Portishead. It begins with the clicks and spins of a revolver chamber and builds with beats, synth, percussion, etc until you've got this wonderfully layered and kinetic progression that manages to remain sufficiently low-key and atmospheric. It triumphs without overpowering.

Second track is "Crystal Hail" as done by Scanner. The base melody reminds me of something from a film score by Hans Zimmer. Languid, moving, like a broad river. It starts out with some sparse sweet notes but quickly breaks into the aforementioned groove overlaid with fast, but not overbearing beats that play on the long notes like rain. It is light, it is beautiful, it's the kind of thing I want to drive across Iceland listening to.

Track three. "Measure for Measure." More of a solitary feel, and definitely darker than the first two tracks. Measured rhythms over long, low synth tracks, it drives in places and rolls in others. A bass beat comes to support and boost the sounds from time to time, dropping out for effect now and then. It gets more complex with varied distorted sounds and additional overlaid tracks. These sounds make me want to go stand in the rain and cry. Beautiful. This is the combined work of Pelican City and Scanner. The collaboration comes through with a strong, dark piece, worthy of the richest mental images.

Track four. "Spyder." This one is Scanner only. Darkest track yet, it has more of an ambient sound to it - lots of accidentals and ethereal vocals whisping around over a solid bass foundation. It's like chaos theory put to music. This one definitely has the strongest sci-fi kind of feel to it, though that may not be the best term to describe it. More like something you might hear in a bizarre dream you might get after watching the Aphex Twin "Windowlicker" video.

I just glanced at the track listings on this page and it looks like the listing is out of order. Reading directly from the liner notes, the tracks are actually in the order that I listed them in the text above.

All in all, this EP is worth every penny ... and then some. Particularly, I feel, if you're a visually-oriented person. That's how my mind works, and these sounds just conjure up the most amazing visuals in my head. It seriously makes me want to go out and shoot a short film and base it entirely around one of these tracks. It takes some good music to get that kind of thing going. Buy it, listen, be amazed.