Album Reviews: July 2013 Week 3

BeautifulWorld - "By The Hunger For The Light" 2013

I randomly started listening to this seemingly blind download, and about 2 minutes into it, I realized that it was a friend of mine that was using a new moniker. I know this guy as Teach One, but that name is used for rapping purposes, I believe, unless he's retired that name altogether. This project is definitely not hip hop related, and is mostly instrumental. I really enjoy the moods and vibes being set forth on this album. Everything seems very spontaneous without seeming immediate or jarring in any way. All of the instruments just kind of flow together and create a pillow of sound for you to rest your head upon. I really enjoy the clunkyness of some of the drum programming as well. Too many people try to quantize everything and make it seem perfect, but it strips songs of their humanity when people do that. These drums sound like they were all programmed live, during the recording of the songs, and it gives them the right sound. Just the exact amount of sloppyness to make it sound true to life, but not so sloppy that you think of it as unprofessional. I really dig the way the acoustic guitars sound on here as well. Perfectly recorded. And the keyboard tones he chose to use are excellent as well. I would recommend this to anyone that just wants to chill out and vibe to some cool sounds and let your mind wander in imaginationland. You can download this for free here.

Objekt - "Cactus" 2011

This single is OK, but nothing phenomenal. Just some relatively simple, pounding drum beats, with some occasional keyboards. I think I slightly prefer the b-side. Check out "Cactus" and "Porcupine"

Miss Kittin - "Calling From The Stars" 2013

I'm only vaguely familiar with some of her previous output, but she's always been one of those people that never fully piqued my interest, but I also never totally dismissed her as being weak either. This album pretty much does nothing to change that opinion either. There's some decent stuff on here, and there's a LOT of material on here as well. I don't know if this is considered a double LP, but it's long. When she sings, the songs come off as decent pop. Pop music that I would rather hear on the radio than what actually is on the radio. There is a certain flatness to the sound of these songs that turns me off a little bit. A lot of the bass tones are the same and repeated too often. When it's all said and done though, this album is pretty solid and ambitious. It's got radio friendly pop songs, but it's also got mostly instrumental light dance songs as well. Those songs are more the style i'm familiar with for her, and also sound better to my ears. There's almost a hypnotic quality to a few of those beats. My only real issue with this album is that even with a very long running time, it still leaves me wanting a little bit more than what it has to offer, but at the same time, there is many different styles and songs to choose from, so I shouldn't feel that way at all. Check out the videos for "Bassline", "What To Wear", and "Life Is My Teacher". Also check out "See You", "Blue Grass", and "Eleven".

RP Boo - "Legacy" 2013

According to most stuff i've read and heard, this guy is credited with actually inventing the juke/footwork genre. I was not ready for the insanity that this album is. This album has many extremely weird song structures and polyrhythms, and is probably not for a casual music listener. However, if you're into audio exploration, I would recommend checking this LP out. He definitely has a different sound than the juke people i've heard thus far, but being familiar with that stuff probably helps this to be more digestible for me. I might have looked at this album as noise if I didn't have some sort of basis for what he's trying to do. So, yeah, this is basically some progressive juke, if that makes sense. A lot of these songs sounded really great in the sweltering heatwave we had last week. They fit the right mood for my woozy state of mind. Check out this sweet video for "Speakers R-4 (Sounds)". Also check out "Invisibu Boogie", "There U Go Boi", and "Battle In The Jungle".

Igorrr - "Nostril" 2010

So, his newest album, "Hallelujah", has been the album i've been the most obsessed with in 2013. Now i'm going back and checking out his previous albums because i'm relatively new to him. This album is just as fucking insane as the new one. I might even prefer this as a whole LP to the newest one. It's more "classical" sounding, but still has all the same smoothed out, rough edges that the newest one has. If you like abrasive music that is well put together, I can't recommend Igorrr enough. Check out "Tendon", "Unpleasant Sonata", "Excessive Funeral", and "Double Monk".