Uncle's Institution
Walkie talk to me
Iknowwhatyoudidlastrecords
Uncle's Institution is basically Egil Olsen, Norway's answer to Iceland's Mugison and Gisli. "Yet another Scandinavian Beck soundalike, then!" you might retort. Well, yes, and no, it's quite unfair to dismiss to Uncle's Institution as nothing but a Beck copycat, they also sound a lot like Eels. Recently people have lamented a lot about how the age of the mp3 might mean "the death of the album", and I'm definitely one of the people who will weep at the album's funeral. This is why it feels like a waste when artists make an album that sounds like a various artists' compilation, instead of making a proper full length where all the songs live together in harmony. Despite this little exasperation, I can see a lot of people getting into this album and feeling very "hip" listening to it. There are some great ideas here, all carried out with a bit of flair, but the whole product is just way too superficial and forced, no matter how many great hooks/choruses Egil has managed to squeeze into 35 minutes.
- Simon Tagestam