Ladies and Gentlemen, I have done it.
I have broken the shrink wrap on "Blueprint of the World," and I've played it repeatedly over the past coyple of weeks on my commutes.
OH MY GOD.
I now see what al the fuss was about!
There is not a song not worth listening to on this disk - although there are indeed songs I admit to now jumping to when I know my drive is too short to get to naturally! They are The Thirst, Catharsis, Oasis (of course!), and I think my favorite on the album (and in the running for my all-time Enchant favorite for that matter), East of Eden. I'm such a sucker for the odd meter!
I'm absolutely IN AWE over Craddick's percussive artistry on this album. I've been enjoying but really deeply dissecting his work on it. What impresses me the most is not merely the skill he has, but the ingenius uniqueness to the flavor of the drumming he brings to every song. It's beautifully punctuated, and yet I don't get the sense that he's showing off or trying to steal any spotlights. I feel as though he's just in a zone and a groove, but that it's a zone and groove that complements the rest of the band without dispute.
Rarely do I hear drumwork that commands my attention like this.
This is not to detract from everyone else's contributions on the album, of course, but hey - ever since the I was 12 and picked up my first pair of drumsticks, my ear for music has never been the same.
--Keith