Name: Is All Over the Map
Brand: Thrill Jockey
SKU: 1082469
Price: 19.61 USD
Availability: InStock

Performer Notes

Giant Sand: Anderson Pederson (guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin); Thoger T. Lund (double bass, bass guitar); Peter Dombernowsky, Howe Gelb, John Parish.
Personnel: Howe Gelb (vocals, guitar, piano); Indiosa Patsy Jean Gelb, Sofie Albertsen, Marie Frank, Scout Niblett, Vic Chesnutt (vocals); Anders Pedersen (guitar, lap steel guitar); John Parish (National guitar, Mellotron, drums); Eric Drew Feldman (organ); Thoger T. Lund (upright bass, electric bass); Peter Dombernowsky (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Sofie Albertson Gelb (vocals); Indiosa Patsy Jean Gelb, Marie Frank, Scout Niblett, Vic Chesnutt.
Recording information: Feedback Recording, Aarhus, Denmark; Harvey's House, Tucson, AZ; Sun Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Photographer: William Carter.
With 2004's IS ALL OVER THE MAP, Giant Sand mastermind Howe Gelb turns in another album of atmospheric, off-kilter, and always-surprising rock. (This was Giant Sand's first record in decades without the rhythm section of Joey Burns and John Convertino, who decided to focus their band, Calexico, on a full-time basis.) While, at his core, Gelb is a troubadour with an acoustic guitar, and his poetic lyrics--full of detail, human suffering, and scenic landscapes--wouldn't sound out of place in a candlelit coffeehouse, his adventurous aesthetic encompasses punk, country, rockabilly, grunge, and experimental music.
Gelb's stylistic collage is compelling both sonically and stylistically. Country-rock is blended with shuffling, quirky pop ("Fool"), blues is buried by stadium-ready guitars ("Remote"), and Gelb's breathy baritone alternates with nerve-scraping distortion ("Classico"). The vibe is lilting and often meditative, but rocks like no ones business when you least expect it. Gelb's genre whiplash doesn't stop with the pop and rock canon: "Napoli" works a tango groove, "Les Forcats Innocents" recalls French cabaret pop, and, on "Rag," Gelb plays a ragtime piano. Such a mixed bag might seem confusing, but the sensibility on IS ALL OVER THE MAP is remarkably cohesive, resulting in something difficult to define, and even harder to resist.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[I]t's a nice soundtrack for a lonesome drunken night."

Uncut (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Lyrically, the album draws together scraps of meaning from disparate regions."

Uncut (p.76) - Ranked #42 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[A] stirring set of scuffed Latino rhythms, high-noon hymns and creepy piano interludes."

Album: Is All Over the Map
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Classico
2)	NYC of Time
3)	Remote
4)	Flying Around the Sun at Remarkable Speed
5)	Cracklin Water
6)	Rag
7)	Muss
8)	Drab
9)	Fool
10)	For‡ats Innocents, Les
11)	Napoli
12)	Hood (View from a Heidelburg Hotel)
13)	Classico, A (Reprise)
14)	Anarchistic Bolshevistic Cowboy Bundle
15)	Ploy

Album: Is All Over the Map
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Classico
2)	NYC of Time
3)	Remote
4)	Flying Around the Sun at Remarkable Speed
5)	Cracklin Water
6)	Rag
7)	Muss
8)	Drab
9)	Fool
10)	For‡ats Innocents, Les
11)	Napoli
12)	Hood (View from a Heidelburg Hotel)
13)	Classico, A (Reprise)
14)	Anarchistic Bolshevistic Cowboy Bundle
15)	Ploy