Estradasphere - "Quadropus"

Estradasphere's break up album, complete with "best tracks ever" and cringeworthy offerings nestled side by side. This contains some of our best single productions but ultimately fails as a cohesive album. How is that for a marketing strategy?

Everyone knows NOW that these guys can sit confidently alongside Downtown pros and such. But before recent times, it was Quadropus that finally made it evident that Estradasphere's confinement to the "annoying joke" bin (from their shameless flaunting of the inner-dork) had come to an end. Not because the band was/is ever going to be considered cool or anything sad and pointless like that, but because they had finally left some room for their more sophisticated side to show. The fact that the ultra-electronic-sounding dub / drum'n'bass of "Dubway" was done entirely a capella speaks for itself. They did a version of an old Greek Rembetica song, and it stayed pretty true to the original, even when the wall of guitars and double kick drum invaded at the end (a tactic they have gotten better and better at). "Speck", a nice and creepy ballad (like Mazzy Star doing a Nino Rota cover) was something of a premonition -- at this point they hadn't quite come to appreciate the genius of Rota like they do now. And they refined their Bulgarian-influenced music in a tight-as-fuck trip down Estradasphere lane called Hardball. Still some cringe moments, but whatever; a great band was emerging here.

Tracklist:
1. "Mekapses Yitonisa" – 4:22
2. "Dubway" – 3:39
3. "King Krab Battle" – 8:31
4. "Speck" – 4:34
5. "Hardball" – 13:40
6. "A Car Ride In Idealistic Ethiopia (Part 1)" – 5:47
7. "Crystal Blue" – 3:40
8. "Jungle Warfare" – 5:42
9. "Body Slam" – 3:09
10. "At Least We'd Have Today" – 9:40