This weird little singer from Singapore is a new find for me, though this is her fourth album. Asian post-pop is just not a sub-genre I have delved far enough into. It opens with an almost trip-hop sound that features some subtle guitar elements as it progresses. "The Girl Who Sold Her Face" has a more 90s alternative feel, bringing to mind bands like Elastica or Lush. The pop groove to "Eko" gives her similar footing as Grimes or early Charli XCX, though there is a more organic rock undercurrent to the bass line, and guitars coloring the background, which balance out the glitchy atmosphere in the periphery. Lyrically, there is an introspective regarding the drugs she is doing.
"1967" is not as focused as it dances around in its own ambiance. "VV" is a shift to a more folk-tinged ballad that took a second lesson to absorb. The lyrics are heavier than the music, and the chorus drifts out of the verse more abstractly, like listening to a photo of clouds. 'Dudu" is under more solid pop footing as the pace picks up. I appreciate the fact that even when the music takes a more upbeat turn, the lyrics remain very troubling. "What3ver" is another song that took a few listens to fully digest despite having a more 90s alt feel similar to the Cardigans. It has a mellow feel while still being dynamic, and the more subdued sonics hit you with a trippy effect.
"Saiko" hits you with another Grimes-influenced barrage of atmospheric sound, that is wistfully wandering through, but it feels more focused on the path it's taking you down. 'Skullcrusher" has the narcotic lethargy of trip-hop draping it. The chorus is more dynamic, making it all work. I will give this a 9.5, it is a fun listen that should hold over anyone waiting on a new Grimes or Poppy album, as it draws from the same shade of weird.
This Irish band plays a dreamy droning take on shoe gaze. The centerpiece is vocalist Katie Ball who dreamy fey vocals stylings, offer the kind of breathy narrative that gave trip hop a great deal of its atmosphere in the 90s . The band begins to come together in a more organic fashion that sounds like a band more than button pushing by the time we get to "Still" . There is a touch of noise draped around the sonics they color the song with. " I Am You" has more of a dynamic shift and I admire the fact they are not afraid to challenge the listener with harsher almost industrial sounds.
If it was not for the intervals Katie choses this would sound darker. But even I will concede it works for what they do. She pushes from her diaphragm more and goes up higher on "Seed" which is more than can be said for the trend of pop singers like Billie Ellish who use a breathy tone and record their vocals close on the mic. "Blue Chalk" works off more of an ambient tension pulsing in the background. The vocals are haunting but feel less invested in being as crucial a part of the song. It feels like it should bring the hammer down like a HEALTH song would but that never comes.
"Early" has a more formed and floating vocal melody and goes to show the dynamic range this band has in terms of the scope of what they do. There is more melancholy buried into the fibers of "Sore". It is one of the more emotive vocals performances Ms. Ball gives thus far on this album. "Mirrors" has more motion to it and is one of the album's better songs despite being more detached emotionally. The 90s electronic alt rock vibes get stronger on "In the Shade" . It almost sounds like if a noise band remixed a Chvrches song. The percussion is more minimal on the last song and the vocals hover around with the rest of the droning atmosphere that is the focus of this song which at five and a half minutes is not long compared to some of the other music we review around here, but for this band it's their longest song at least on this album. I will give this album a 9.5, it is strong when you consider what they do which is going for a mood and they use some interesting colors to capture it. Not shoe gaze in the way you might expect them to be.
Off all the 90s sub genre trip hop has not made a comeback ike say shoe gazre. Next to Massive Attack , Tricky was the most important figure in that genre. "Pre Milenium Tension" is always going to be the album I weigh his work against, which is not that high of a bar as he has proven himself capabe of bringing sounds that go far beyond what he did there on many albums since., singer Marta invokes a simiar feeling that singer his original singer Martine Topley-Bird had. I was much clearer on how I felt about the opener "Thinking Of" and " which "Close Now" was sandwhiched between. It grew on me by the second listen. The more upbeat "I'm In the Doorway" does show case singer Marta's voice in the clearest sense, but Tricky is not about writing conventional pop songs and the mix on the song sound a little optimistic. This album was supposed to be inspired by the death of his daughter so I am hoping for something really dark. It is no where as near as dark as " Post Millenium Tension". That darkness does not come until " Hate this Pain" . His voice utters the lyrics with more of that pain I want to hear from him. He might be british but this song sounds like it was born in New Orleans.
"Chills Me to the Bone" runs off a reliable groove that drives the song in the right direction. Their is more of a house bounce to "Fall Please". without the kind of groove he is known for the song doesn't feel as focused. When he goes into the kind of melodic and organic drone of " Take Me Shopping" it works more to his advantage. The song itself reminds me a little of Lucious Jackson. They go into more of a down tempo pulse with "Like a Stone". The meody is more understated with this one. The vocals here feel more like what we have heard Matrine Topley Bird do in the past so this new girl from Poland is filing her shoes nicely. "Throws Me Around" goes for a similar vibe but it is lost in it's own atmosphere.
There is a gloomier vinbe to "Vietnam" which closes the album. It however never finds it's groove and just drones on with the drudgery. The albums gets murky and runs out of gas in the final moments , but does succeed as a whole and stands up[ reasonaby well against the bulk of his work. The production is a litte brighter than I might have preferred these sound to be presented, but the songs themselves are solid , not sure how much play time this will get , but I wil give it a 9, as I think that is where is would fall with fans who still carry his torch.
Yeah, I am going to file this album under the Gothtober banner, most of the kids who are adults now that were into trip-hop were also goth kids, so here we go. "Pre-Millennium Tension " is the album I always return to by him and lost track of Tricky over the years. The intro seems like business as usual, then there is sung vocal in "Same as It Ever Was" that is poppy in the most indie -hipster way, think Gorillaz or Flaming Lips, so this song doesn't connect with me as strongly as it could if they had gone somewhere else with the vocals. "New Stole" a lazy guitar riff to it. The vocals have a soulful twist to them, it makes me feel like I am in a seedy club in France.
The more subdued "Wait for Signal" is dark enough to work for me with calm shadowy groove and whispered vocals of Asia Argento joining in. "Its Your Day" is only an actual song for about a minute so it's more of an interlude. "Blood Of My Blood" is almost a ballad , though the drug tinged pulse keeps it from being too sentimental. There is more of a rock feel to the beginning of "Dark Days" but this morphs into 80's sounding new wave. It's driven by a thick synth riff. They return to a more ballad like approach on "the Only Way". Strummed guitar and piano carries the song as Tricky whispers over it, never actually singing. This is a little too straight forward and conventional for him.
The pace picks up for " Armor" . Which somewhat poppy with a strong female vocal courtesy of Terra Lopez, which might be the album's best vocal. What is odd is "Doll" which is a cover of Hole's "Doll Parts". It's not as wildly re-imagined as it leads you to believe and vocalist Avalon Lurks really doesn't take it anywhere new with what she does. "Bang Boogie" is another interlude it sounds like the backing track for a Die Antwoord song. "Running Wild" didn't wow or repulse me on first listen, on second listen Mina Rose , who handles the bulk of the female vocals on this album is under stated to the point of being bland. I think the fact that Jay-Z helped produce this album took a lot of the dark edge to it and that is why some of the songs sound sterilized for the radio and bringing the same quality I dislike in the XX's production. The last song embraces his classic sound perhaps the most as it features Martina Topley-Bird. I have to round this down to an 8.5. There are good songs on it , but we know what Tricky is capable of so I expect greatness. If this was some unknown pop artist I might be more impressed.
I've been in more of a metal mood with the cold weather, but always looking for something dark. I cam across this project that is helmed by Brooklyn based;Robert Toher. It opens with a shadowy take on trip hop. With ghostly chimes ringing through the opener the song has a solid pulse and unique vocals. The second song "Mirror" came closer to floating by me as it's so ethereal it's almost not there. The vocals are more of a layer to the atmosphere than a focal point. More grit is added as the beat are dirtied up a bit to put " Ring Leader" into more of a Massive Attack place sonically, though the vocals hang in an emotional purgatory that reminds me of Thom Yorke. More organic elements creep in creating more of a Cure like sound. The synths give a lower pulse as "Domino" takes on a more minimalist approach to its composition. It's so minimal and atmospheric until it becomes intangible. There is more marrow to the bones of "Cul De Sac" . It has a more up beat melody until the despondent vocals come in and haunt the song.
"As You Wish" is more fragile, until the beat comes in to seal everything together. There is more groove to this one which allows the vocals to occupy more of atmospheric space in the sonic picture being painted. This song offers the album a stronger sense of dynamics.There is an even more solid and creeping beat to "Interfaith" that gives the song and an almost erotic slither. The vocal are not dominant like a pop song, but a somewhat more defined role. He ebbs back out into a spacier place on "Zig Zag" that finds the beats a little more muffled as the song takes on a more lo-fi sound. The vocals are more distant, like they are being sung from out in the hallway. The melody does use some interesting intervals. This same sonic space is inhibited on "Earwig" though the song is more straight forward in its approach.
The album closes with "Lunar" which brings the album around full circle as it has a similar bell like jingle as "Heir". The vocals take on a more conventional role in guiding the verses. The lyrics are more distinguishable and some organic guitar tones bubble up from the chiming wall of sound circling the fey melody. Toher's reedy tenor is vulnerable and moody and gracefully hovers in the holes left by the oddly opaque instrumentation.I'll round this one up to a 9. It was an enjoyable listen, very low key and laid back think it will provide a better soundtrack when I'm working rather than running around on the iPod wedged in-between Anthrax and Skinny Puppy. The album drops on March 18th via felte records. Check out the single below.
I think we know that pop music is my favorite palate cleanser to start the day off with before I spend the rest of the day listening to blacksludgepostdeathcrust metal. So my interest in Abel Makkonen Tesfaye should not be a great surprise as he is darker than your average r&b singer and has been known to sample both Siouxsie and the Cocteau Twins, his drug use might explain for this taste in music, but whatever the case since it's time to look at the years best pop/electronic albums of the year, we need to give his 2015 album a glance under the sonic microscope. The album opens with a very passionate wink to another addict...Michael Jackson. The fuzz of the guitar being run through the intro sets things apart from the Great Gloved One, but the cadence of the melody would not sound out of place on the "Bad" album, carrying a similar steamy power as "Dirty Diana" but with less rock aspirations. British singer Labirinth joins up to take the second verse of "Losers" which doesn't get really dancey until after his verse. Which brings up one element of this album that bears mentioning, thanks to Swedish pop producer Max Martin, the arrangements on this album veer from the typical pop formula.
The other part of the equation in as to what draws me in for repeat listens is the smart gangsta slant to the lyrics that works for me where his idol R. Kelly failed. "Tell Your Friends" leads the pack in this regard, where is "never rocking white he's like a racist" the idea of a party is "dropping dope dimes on some coke lines, getting head all night cumming four times" but being a gentle man he does ask his play mate if she would like to smoke a pound and do an ounce before getting dick and telling her friends about it. But delivering this in a very sensitive Michael Jackson really knocks this out of the park. Another more NSFW ode to what he does "Often" follows this one it has some drugged out witch house tones haunting it. "the Hills" is the song that got me onboard happens to be the same song he is getting sued for sampling from a horror, so that makes perfect sense as to why I would like it.
Some of the more sappy elements of r&b even when filtered through his hyper sexual lense still can bog down songs like "Acquainted" which even after a few listens to see if it would grow me doesn't have the power found in some of the albums other hooks. The big radio hit "Can't Feel My Face" has it's merits even though being a little too happy for me with its funked up disco swagger. "Shameless" is one song I haven't really spent much time with, the vocal is strong, but like a few of the other songs it can be a little repitious and the track backing it doesn't have the same experimental darkness creeping into the corner of its eye. Lyrically its one of the album's bi-polar moments, either he's a pimped out playa or hopeless romantic, while I'm getting married in a few weeks going to show conversions can happen, in the tug of war his pimp side is lyrically more interesting.Like Ellie Goulding , whose album I have but don't feel it nesscessary to review, he also earned a place on the 50 Shades of Gray soundtrack, if you are familiar with my lifestyle work in Cvlt Nation, you can understand why I would think the movie is a joke, and yes I read the book before passing judgement. The string driven waltz is well done, I don't think's the album's strongest moment even though I like the falsetto passage.
The very MJ influence "In the Night" still works on today's pop radio and I would like to hear a stronger dance remix, even though the chorus to this song gets the job done. "As You Are" is more of a ballad even with the beat behind it. Lyrically we are back to the bi-polar tug of war, he has handed in his pimp card for this one, in someways it reminds me of Twin Shadow. Things get real on the blues tinged "Dark Times" that Ed Sheeran" who looks too much like Bilbo Baggins for me to take seriously if I was going to watch play this song live, but I did not know what he looked until I heard the lyrics, it hits home for me as it reminds me of many a morning after during by drug days, so I applaud the writing. "Prisoner" might have Lana Del Rey on it , but is not any more compelling than a Dido b-side. The ballad"Angel" closes out the album and is another song I haven't give a ton of time, I do like the big 80s feel to it. Even if it's not the song that has the Cocteau Twins sample it does have a hint of their sound. Maty Noyes adds vocals to the song as well. Its easy for me to round this one up to a
