Seattle – despite the vision provided by many songwriters – is not a terribly depressing place, sure, it does rain a lot but remove a lot of us from our rainy, gray city and we quickly miss it.. or never look back. Either way, the amount of ‘dark’ music that pour out of Seattle, the music off labels and on labels is the cause of many annoyances when I look for new and local music, I tend to favor electronic music and hip-hop personally, I tend to dislike the kind of music where it’s just boy/girl with a guitar/piano/whateverthefucktheyplay. It takes real talent to make stripped down music, music that focuses on words, even then I often find it at best somewhat boring and at worst somewhat laughable. So Tiny Vipers, an artist I’ve ignored despite her popularity has a new album out, “Life on Earth”, it’s real sit down and consider what the artist is saying music, sparse music that relies heavily on the dichotomy created by the silence and sound present in music. On this end it’s effective craftsmanship, the kind of thing that requires quite a bit of talent to pull off. However..

Points:

Words, music like this is focused entirely on the emphasis on words before music, and how the music wraps itself around those words and emphasizes the emotion the singer wishes to convey. This, in theory is wonderful, however, the reality of a majority of singer/songwriter rarely ever manipulates the relationship of words/music effectively.. Tiny Vipers does utilize the words/music relationship fairly well, she has an eye for space and where to place things. Everything feels appropriately placed, but not placed in a way that takes any risks.

The Fundamental problem with her music is how faceless her themes, her words are, she doesn’t stand out when you actually listen to what she’s saying. What distinguishes her from any other singer/songwriter save her understanding of tone and space? Not much, but to many fas of the singer/songwriter niche.. that may be just enough. Ultimately the album survives on a thin diet of substance, it’s mostly boilerplate material for a lyricist of her niche. She does go out of her way occasionally, most notably on the song ‘Young God’ and the track that follows it the title track ‘Life on Earth’, but it’s not enough.

Although I admit a strong bent against the whole genre to begin with, I feel it’s fair to call this album something of a bore, it barely makes an impression, rarely deviates tonally. Twin Viper has a nice voice, a distinct voice even.. but what she sings about and how she sings about it isn’t really worth listening to. But I must say this: If you like the genre, if you don’t mind the lack of originality, ignore me and get the album. It’ll probably keep your attention for a few spins.. probably fade after that. And I suppose that’s just fine. I can’t see myself ever re-visiting this personally.

Certain things you have to be in the right mood for, and Twinsistermoon’s (One part of the extraordinary Natural Snow Buildings) The Hollow Mountain is something that requires a state of contemplation and patience. It’s distinctly aged, hushed aesthetic an acquired taste to say the least. I use ‘acquired taste’ in a very positive manner here, the music is layered and gorgeous, Mehdi Ameziane’s voice is haunted and beautiful, one I don’t think I’ll be forgetting about anytime soon. The imprint of Natural Snow Building is on The Hollow Mountain, but the songs are far more accessible to the average music lover than NSB(Natural Snow Buildings)’s elegant and occasionally frightening drones tend to be.. Nonetheless, like NSB, this is music that requires patience.

Points:

The sound of the record is best described as somewhat medieval sounding, Mehdi Ameziane’s vocals best exemplify this. The songs feel more akin to old folk music – psychedelic folk as well now that I think of it – and the drone, the ambient effects that are laden themselves over the music make a thin haze the fogs the vision to create a visual aid – work in the favor of an older, more worn tone for the music.

Overall, The Hollow Mountain can appropriately be called gorgeous, a definite highlight of the year.. heartbreakingly beautiful and mournful, I’d call it ‘literate’ music, but that term doesn’t exactly fit.. It’s music that’s evocative without the use of words, but it would feel snug next to a singer/songwriter album, it’s ebb and flow deeply personal to the listener and probably to the artist as well.

I’d strongly recommend downloading the album, or buying the album if still can, it was limited to 30 copies after all. It isn’t perfect, it requires a peaceful state of mind, and it suffers dearly when you remove songs from context, but those are small and fairly insignificant complaints, The Hollow Mountain is one of the year’s best and it deserves your attention.

Download the album here

I’ll go back to looking at you statistics in two weeks.

You know what I’ve been itching for lately? Some R&B. 2009 is pretty sparse on it, and aside from the excellent Platinum Pied Pipers LP “Abundance”, nothing else has filled my need for some good old soul.. “My World” probably could’ve been released in the era of Don Julian/Dorsey Brown era and it would fit in just fine.. And it makes sense, Lee Fields has been performing since the 60’s, he released a sole LP in the 70’s (now a collectors item) that I haven’t heard.. One thing is apparent though, Lee Fields is a nostalgic man, and god bless him for it.

 Points:

 Nostalgia as inspiration is spotty, to do it right, an artist has to carve his niche, and for Lee Fields, old school R&B is his niche, the thing he’s done as a performer for years. His experience shows, not a single melody is misplaced. After years of work, he and his new band have crafted a sharp, uncannily ‘retro’ sound that works as music and as a slice of the past.

 That isn’t to say that Fields hasn’t added a few bells and whistles to his style, throughout, small electronic flourishes pop up, the mix is incredibly sophisticated and layered, Fields hasn’t become a dinosaur like many of his active peers, he’s adapted incredibly well to the modern musical world. He’s used modern tools to make his work more complex, and ultimately smoother sounding.

 My World’s sole flaw has a lot to do with what Fields is saying. Like his sound, which is fittingly nostalgic, his lyrics haven’t moved. This isn’t an immediate flaw, his delivery is exceptional, I just feel like singing about women and social evils sort of limits him as an artist. His talent is there, no denying it.. He does what he set out to do with flying colors, I hope he incorporates stronger modern influences as time goes on. This isn’t so much a flaw as it is something that bothers me. “My World” is exemplary, classy music, it all flows nicely and it hits it’s emotional center 95% of the time. “My World” fits a niche, it’s pure, modern (yet vintage) clean-cut R&B, and right now, it’s just what I want.

No more Album of the Week for a month or two.

I want to focus on getting this blog in shape, and no one seems to download the album of the weeks anymore, so I’ll have a megapost with a lot of stuff at the end of next month.. I’ll still be writing 2009 music reviews on a regular basis.. and arranging an averaged database of reviews/scores.

I’ve been on a great streak lately, but Clark’s “Totem Flare” is a full blown speaker monster in the best possible way, Gigantic bass that hits like a semi, dirty, fuzzed up keyboards.. echo, chanted non-lyrics and as a result, made one of the hardest, loudest and best dance records of the year. I can’t give my exact thoughts on this quite yet.. But I can tell you this, if this isn’t on my year-end list, it’ll have been one of the best years for music in a very long time.

 Points

 Let’s talk about the elephant on the record, ‘Rainbow Voodoo’, I haven’t heard anything that’s hit me this instantly in a long time, song of the year? With it’s combination of dirty synths, headphone shaking bass and just generally tight pattern and strange vocal chant, there’s no way it can fail. The track is hard, rock solid.. The bass hits like a truck, the keyboards screech and Clark’s voice echoes over the track.. This one is a monster, I haven’t given it much of a run on my audio-setup, but once reveals it to be as much of a speaker shaker as much as it is a headphone shaker.

 The rest of the album is a mixture of consistent ally great in-between moments for Clark, his sense of balance on each song is quite impressive, he knows where to place bridges, choruses, etc.. And the album is loud in the best way. The sounds fill up the ears and can easily overpower whatever you’re playing it on.

 “Totem Flare” isn’t without it’s bad patches, ‘growls garden’ leans a bit on the weak side of things, and the album does slump a few times.. but “Totem Flare” does so much right it’s hard to really look at the weak spots on the album as flaws really worth mentioning, the bad taste of ‘Growl Garden’ is quickly washed away and all one is left with is delicious spoonfuls of great music.

The problem with a majority of political music is that once you remove it from it’s specific time period, it’s often stupid, facile even. Mr. Lif’s new record commits a rather dire sin of political music. Giving names and instantly damning his music to this era, but despite this, Lif’s record works well as an hip-hop record.. with or without his limited views on politics. Because you know, being cynical about politics, such a new thing to do. Now I’m just being a bit harsh. Mr. Lif focuses on other stuff as well. Like cop brutality and pot.

 Points:

 What I don’t get is how impossibly ‘hard-hitting’ Mr. Lif is trying to be, when he’s essentially saying the same or similar thing in an equally cynical manner. And talking about Obama already? Okay, your record has 8 years of relevance at best. Bringing in the collapse of the economy, okay, fair enough. But the constant cynicism, and sometimes facile claim to some kind of political knowledge is hair-raisingly bad at times. This album was supposed to be “dedicated to capturing the pulse of this tumultuous era we’re living through.” huh? In doing so Mr. Lif has created an album that’ll be quickly and rightfully forgotten.

 Being unapologetically cerebral is one thing, but when doing so I’d beg Mr. Lif to have restraint when spouting off about politicians. In a rare instance where I fully agreed with Pitchfork, “Lif’s intentions– to heat up his politics with personal immediacy– are admirable, but the result, unfortunately, recreates a bit too successfully how it might feel to read a Mr. Lif Huffington Post column”. Damn straight, this album’s primary problem is that it never stops spouting off it’s cynical point of view, perhaps on the final track it offers a glimmer of hope, but by the time, it’s hard to maintain any kind of interest in what Lif is trying to say. He’s too political, he’s too immediate with his flow.

 Mr. Lif thanks the listener at the end of his album, and it’s clear that “I Heard It Today” is an extremely personal work constructed almost entirely of politics according to Mr. Lif.. I don’t disagree with what the man is saying, his weariness isn’t totally without merit, but it’s so constant that I have a hard time caring about the album as music, as something I listen to so I can experience it. Listening to this again, right before the next phase of my life starts.. before I graduate makes me feel down, Mr. Lif is constantly looking into the gutter and never looking up right now, and I hope he finds a subject that will give his flow a better gravity then ‘politics with Lif’, because that’s just depressingly sour.

I’ve got a question for you, yes you reader.. whoever you are. What’s a record that you’ve really warmed up to this year? And why? Is it because it evokes something in yourself or is it just a lot of fun? (Note: You don’t have to answer those questions, I’d just like to hear it.)

 One record that’s stuck with me throughout the year is DJ Signify’s “Of Cities”, a fairly well rounded and mostly instrumental hip-hop album that evokes the feeling of darkness and dread like few records of it’s genre are capable of doing. The album’s opening track is telling of what’s inside, it’s base beat seems to cause loneliness, the album as a person.. a man walking through some city all night, anxiety around every corner.

 Points:

 I like how well each track runs into the next, at first the copious amounts of interludes annoyed me, now I realize that those intros serve as a sort of punctuation, each segueing the next song’s tone in, and putting a period on the previous one. It’s a thoughtful gesture on DJ Signify’s part and it makes the album hard to separate as an album. This isn’t one for singles, this is meant to be played as a whole record. I admire it’s ambition and it’s ability to transport a listener to a different state of mind.

 It’s not hard to evoke the night in music, it is hard however to make that vision of night and it’s various phases consistent with each other. Most albums don’t even try to do so, but Dj Signify seems to want us to be stuck with his music at night, each street light is dim, each corner filled with trash. It’s powerful, those kind of feelings, but it has a sway that I find irresistible. The album seems to weave it’s way through a journey that’s undefined, yet clear. Each listen has brought me closer to the conclusion that this is indeed, the album of the year. Now, I’ve said that few times this year, but I don’t know.. it’s been a great year for music and I’ve been letting this simmer for a while. I feel confident calling this one of the most powerful listening experiences of the year.

 Ultimately, this isn’t an album you’ll always be in the mood for, but it strikes it’s mood with an immaculately sharp edge, “Of Cities” is an album that emotes and doesn’t feel too concerned about what you think of it. It’s concerns lie within how it can grab you. The two vocal tracks with Aesop Rock break the flow of the album a bit, but really, they do work on the album, both fit the mood and tone, ‘Low Tide’ is one of his darkest tracks in a long time.

 “Of Cites” is ultimately most like a trip through a lonely night, from sundown (’The Sickness’) in all it’s bleak glory to the slightly hopeful but nonetheless lonely closing track (’Hold me, Don’t Touch me’) seem to signal the beginning and end of the night, and the end of a very rewarding journey for both the artist and the listener.

 

Click to download

I can’t say I quite like it, this album by Papercuts. “You Can Have What You Want” but I will say this in it’s favor, it does everything it sets out to do very well. It’s just the dynamics, the niches of this album, they kind of bore me. Several things spurn my boredom. The emphasis on synths, I love synths. They have a naturally warm feeling and they’re incredibly versatile, synths can be integrated into most kinds of music through modification.. But the use of synth washes, where the synth covers the track’s other instruments, put very high in the mix.. it’s prelevant in a fair amount of indie, Interpol to name one does this a lot. They do it well though.. Papercuts uses it in a rather uninspired fashion. I guess that would sum up my thoughts about the entire album. I think it’s uninspired. Insincere even.

 Points:

I can’t think of anything that inspired me about this album, the vocal dynamic is the closest thing that came to impressing me though. Even under all the warm synthetic layers, the vocalist sounds rather clear. Nice trick, strong voice she’s got. Even with that, the music just doesn’t let her do anything with her voice. She follows the beats to the point of painful predictability. Chorus, verse, etc. Where’s the sense of adventure here?

 Pop music is really hard to nail, and I see talent and potential in Papercuts, it’s just they seem to be getting their footing as a band at the moment. As a band, they have a good dynamic, they play off each other well ( within the restraints of cliché ) but regardless, that’s an excellent quality to have in a band. I’m disappointed because I can hear that these guys can do a lot more than what they’re doing here.

 Ultimately, “You Can Have What You Want” is enjoyed best if you aren’t expecting anything but competent. It’s not going to re-invent the wheel, but it’s not going to try to do that either. Even after an initial listen though.. Papercuts seems to be capable of doing bigger, bolder things. Once they do that I’ll be behind them 100%, until then.. eh.