The first four tracks on Mezzanine are masterpieces, probably the apotheosis of Trip-Hop. Dark, dreamlike, beautiful, stunningly sculpted -- one senses the hundreds, even thousands of studio manhours that went into each song. The rest of the album is brilliant as well, though the "comedown" tracks #5 & #11 might be skipped on repeat listenings. Tracks #6-10 continue the greatness in different directions -- sometimes sly and funny, sometimes crunching rock. Each song has an arc, which takes multiple listenings to understand. This might be sounds repeated at the beginning that are layered upon, then layered upon again, until the whole things unwinds and you are left with the same sounds (the heavy thudding beat in "Angel," the looped feedback in "Dissolved Girl") in a new context. Songs unfold like dreams, with images and bits of narrative fading in and out. Be sure to listen to this on a good stereo; Mezzanine uses the entire audio spectrum, including some very deep bass. (E.g., at 1'30" into "Angel," you should be alarmed at how the stygian bass is getting even louder...right before the "door-ajar" car sound which is the tolling bell of doom.) This might be the most tightly controlled album I have heard. Brilliant stuff.
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