World's End Girlfriend - Seven Idiots

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Fronted by the almost schizophrenically talented Katsuhiko Maeda, World’s End Girlfriend defies easy categorization. On WEG’s 10th studio album, Maeda creates a soundtrack that suggests Trans Siberian Orchestra on steroids and champagne, a Prog/Classical/Pop mash-up that is muscular, giddy, frenetic and undeniably fun. Maeda pinballs between genres and sounds with attention-deficit speed, but the shifts never seem capricious. “Ulysses Gazer” gives the impression of a radio dial being spun across a spectrum where Muse, Danny Elfman, Queen, Thomas Dolby, Radiohead, Testament, Raymond Scott and Mozart are all playing the same song on different stations in radically different styles but with the same visceral intensity. Ignore the Emo-sounding band name; with Seven Idiots, Maeda makes cartoon music for intellectuals, Metal for eggheads, Classical for headbangers, Prog for 21st-century schizoid adventurists, Jazz for geneticists, party vibes for blade runners. World’s End Girlfriend is everything on your iPod and more. Grade: B