Great Music While High: Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Penguin Café Orchestra (PCO) is a collective with which I always find myself disagreeing on the traditional classifications amongst music genres. While it’s easy enough to clump PCO with the likes of classical, jazz and new age, each grouping tragically ostracizes and ultimately abandons the band. By belonging to such distinct genres PCO rejects them all.

Clever incorporations of the harmonium, piano and a variety of string instruments create a foundation from which PCO whimsically twists and embellishes. The voiceless poetry is a unique assemblage of folk, ethnic and contemporary composition. The light and minimalist sound of “Perpetuum Mobile” is often used in my personal culinary playlist for when I want to bake brownies and feel sophisticated at the same time.

“Telephone and Rubber Band,” is a prime example of the bands innovative manipulation of those things in the world, often viewed as ordinary and mundane. With a digital mastering of a phones busy signal and the heavy twang of a dull rubber band, the song creates a romanticism for commonalities. PCO maintains their perspective while remaining airy and dynamic.

Their album Preludes, Airs and Yodels ( A Penguin Café Primer) should be kept on hand for those highs that are itching to be stimulated in an artisan and motivational light. Whether being used as background noise as you write out all your sudden epiphanies that will surely wind up on the New Yorks Best Seller list, or to transform your house into a Disney scene where birds help do laundry, Penguin Café Orchestra is a must have.