Bongo

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Bongo album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 13   Total Length: 32:09

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Both Good and Unique

DJ-DualCore

The All Music Guide review sells this record short. 32 minutes is too short for a full album; that is true. The songs, however are quite good, on average. If the unusual production style was all this record was about it would just be a novelty, but that isn't the case. The unique blend of cut-up, break-y production and good pop songwriting make this record special, even if it is more of an EP than an album.

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They Say All Music Guide

“About is Rutger Hoedemaekers,” reads a legend in the CD digipak for About’s first album, Bongo, on which Hoedemaekers reportedly spent the better part of three years. That effort brought him just over 32-minutes’ worth of electronic pop, on which the sounds can be noisy but sometimes give way to a tuba and sousaphone duet (which is what happens on “Friends Applaud, The Comedy Is Over”). Hoedemaekers uses editing as an element of composition, suddenly cutting from one rhythm and set of sounds to another, sometimes so suddenly and repeatedly that the listener may think the CD player is on the fritz or the disc is defective. He also adds quirky lyrics that match the ear-catching, if ever-changing music. This is undeniably entertaining music, and undeniably gimmicky, but by the end, it fails to be much more than a novelty. – William Ruhlmann

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