album review

Album Review: The Drawing Board - Art Department

in ,

Following the praise heaped on debut single 'Without You' (Resident Advisor's single of the year in 2009) The Drawing Board suffers a little under the weight of expectation. It also veers somewhat from claustrophobic and imprisoned to liberated and fancy-free, the latter most definitely being preferable. The album feels lost inside its own ego at times - Art Department's sound has been dubbed "Gothic House" by DJ Mag and to my ears, that isn't a compliment. But at its best this is a work of restraint - the listener left to explore by the space that exists within the composition.

This dichotomy is perfectly epitomised by second track 'Tell Me Why (Part I)' and its sister track, the penultimate 'Tell Me Why (Part II)'. Both are dark, chugging tech-house numbers but the shorter, second part starts stripped of its beat and when it eventually throws a loose bass line into the mix it is accompanied by some jazzy vibes to create a disconcerting collage of sounds. It is both at once paranoid and blissfully unaware. Unfortunately the longer, earlier version has none of the subtlety - it aims for soulful but feels nagging and, sadly, dull. Kenny Glasgow's vocals just feel uninspired and turgid.

There are highlights however. 'Vampire Nightclub' is Art Department at their best. With a slow build and plenty of room, it feels much more like it takes its time than 'Tell Me Why' and that's because, at ten-minutes long, it does. The difference is that something actually happens during all of that time. What makers of modern day tech-house often miss when taking inspiration from their techno forefathers is the importance of progression. Early techno feels revelatory because of its overtly futuristic aesthetic, but it wouldn't have been anything if those early tracks, such as Derrick May's 'Strings of Life', didn't build and evolve. 'Vampire Nightclub' is the best track on this album because it doesn't stay in one place - unlike much here it builds and adds texture.

'In The Mood' also shines, taking the same break used in Q-Tip's 'Breath & Stop'. Here, in the context of The Drawing Board, its brief three-minutes feels raw, intimate and urgent.

Ultimately Art Department could do with taking a little advice from the sample that closes their own (admittedly great) 'What Does It Sound Like': "You gotta always remember the name of the game is what does is sound like?" Too often it feels like the duo believe their own hype.

The Drawing Board has promise but ultimately seriously misfires in a few places due to the over use of meaningless 'soulful' vocals and, sadly, a lack of ideas. Take half of this album and you have some well put together, intelligent dance music - just leave that other half.

BP x
The Drawing Board is out now on Crosstown Rebels, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!

in ,

When duo Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel first unleashed 'Hold On' upon the world as Holy Ghost! I was a little bit awestruck. It is pretty much the perfect modern house record - a nod to label mates LCD Soundsystem in the rock song structure and snappy, live sounding percussion combined with a brilliantly restrained shuffling bassline and synth combo that managed to turn up just as Italo was tipping over. Even the lyrics somehow manage to transcend what are actually pretty conventional sentiments - some how the formulaic "Hold on, hold tight" chorus felt edgy when pressed up against that killer couplet: "I love this city but I hate my job".

For me nothing else the duo have done has quite lived up to that moment. The Static On The Wire EP had some moments - the catchy if slightly sterile track it takes it's name for starters, however it was second single 'I Will Come Back' (also on that EP) that really suggested there was more to come.

Here we are then, some four years on from 'Hold On'. Whilst that track appears here alongside 'Static On The Wire', 'I Will Come Back' is sadly only notable by its absence. It's a peculiar omission given that this album is just ten tracks long, clocking in at under fifty minutes. Regardless - what you have is a solid selection of vocal house tracks that more-or-less all hit the mark. 'Dot It Again' opens things on an even footing with a serviceable if risk-averse number - it is undoubtedly Holy Ghost! at their most commercial.

It is the album's middle that delivers though. The exposed sound of the vocals on 'Hold My Breath' when the melody all but completely drops away, the lyrics pushed out with a rapid insistence as though the singer is all to conscious they are running out of time. An ode to label mate and friend Jerry Fuchs, 'Jam For Jerry' is the perfect bittersweet electro-pop record. The vocals betray a certain guilty feeling at Fuchs' untimely death - "I've got the feeling I've done / something half wrong / it surrounds me, it drowns me in it". Paired with an undeniably sparkly melody it feels like the sound of the party going on whilst everyone there struggles to come to terms with what has happened and the result sounds like pure New Order: I'm unhappy but I'm still dancing

From there the album flows in to 'Hold On', and then on to 'Slow Motion', which stands out with it's drum-heavy breaks before closing on 'Static On The Wire' and 'Some Children'. The latter incorporating a chorus of children singing that feels like it aims to add a bit of soul but sadly just over complicates things - the duo are at their best when stripped back and left to their own devices.

As a debut this proves Holy Ghost! Are more than just a one hit wonder. Four years in the making means it suffers slightly from the burden of expectation though and I can't help but with there was just a bit more to discover here.

BP x

Holy Ghost! is out now on DFA, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Nine Types of Light - TV On The Radio

in ,

Back when I reviewed TV On The Radio's last album, Dear Science, I claimed it to be the band's career highlight to date. It's a statement I'd stand by, and yet I still can't help but feel that of their first three albums proper (I'm disregarding the self-released demo OK Calculator from 2002 as it's tricky to come by) it is still Return To Cookie Mountain that I always come back to. That record's bass-heavy, stuttering electronic production still sounds thrilling and fresh, and there are several tracks on that album ('I Was a Lover', 'Province', 'Wolf Like Me' and 'Dirtywhirl') that continue to mean far more to me than anything on its follow-up. As great as a record Dear Science is, it just didn't feel quite like the TV On The Radio that I loved.

Nine Types of Light was released a few weeks back now and I can safely safe it answers the concerns I had about the previous record whilst continuing to demonstrate the progression and growth of the band. From the opening bars of 'Second Song' it is patently clear TV On The Radio have still got it, and they haven't lost their ability to open their albums with absolute blinders. It feels like like the sound of a band emerging from the storm still tied to rigging and finding it irresistable to greet the world with anything but a beaming smile. This is a band that have been through some difficult times in recent years and sadly things haven't eased since Nine Types of Light was released, with the passing of the band's bassist, Gerard Smith, last week. Somehow though they still sound positive and in fact, on 'Second Song, complete with its 'ooh oooh' vocals, they sound more positive than ever. A brass backing only further adds to the effect, sounding like a band coming out punching, legs and arms flailing whilst they try and connect.

Perhaps the answer to this new found enthusiasm is the oldest of all, for more than anything else Nine Types of Light is a record about love, as evidenced on the lovelorn 'Keep Your Heart', with the vocalist belting out the words: "I'm gonna keep your heart / if the world falls apart / I'm gonna keep your heart". It's the sound of selfishly putting another first, and you can't help but hope it works out for him.

The theme is revisited several times throughout the album but probably nowhere better than on single 'Will Do', a paean to forbidden or unrequired love that bursts open with a shuddering bass line, to create the most electronic track the band have released since Return To Cookie Mountain. The lyrics betray a man unprepared to let life and love slip through his fingers, almost angry that the subject of his affections would dare waste the opportunity. If it sounds desperate, that's because it is, but you can't help but feel that the song is justified in its honesty all the same.

This isn't just a record of love songs, though. 'No Future Shock' revisits the band's fondness for celebrating the bleakness of our apparent future, encouraging us all to dance to the sound of the end of the world. 'Repetition' similarly celebrates misfortune, seemingly mocking the singer's own paranoia and inability to break the cycle. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

If you really want evidence of TV On The Radio's new found optimism though then go no further than 'Caffeinated Consciousness'. The excellent Fluxblog recently posted this song and likened it to the sound of someone trying to turn Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' into punk rock and I wholeheartedly agree - it sounds like raw energy turning the listener's hands into megaton weights and feet into jet engines... to resist is futile, as the singer says: "I'm optimistic, on overload". It's a fitting close to a great album.

Nine Times of Light is the best of both worlds - an album that continues to reveal more with repeated listens yet still has the hooks to have you addicted from the first listen. This is a brilliant record, eclipsing the band's best work.

BP x

Nine Types of Light is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, Deluxe CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Underneath The Pine - Toro Y Moi

in ,

Toro Y Moi's debut was one of my real highlights of last year... That rare thing: an album that lives up to the blogger hype (yes, appreciate this is a blog and so I would say that...)

Full of funky J Dilla style loops, soulful low-in-the-mix vocals and tight eighties flourishes Causes Of This stands out as the best of what the chill wave genre can offer. It may have had the odd moment of weakness but its highlights more than outweigh them.

Underneath The Pine is unexpected. It would have been easy to just focus on taking Causes Of This and re-making it without the sub-par moments: an easy route to sophomore critical success. Instead Toro Y Moi appears to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. The funky slabs of eighties synth are gone, replaced with a more natural sounding fuzzy seventies vibe, and the hip-hop influence has all but disappeared.

The result feels like the Carpenters covered by Animal Collective. The production here is immaculate and Chazwick Bundick's talent in this area really shows - this is a tight record. 'New Beat' is a part stomping funk number, part freeform jazz experiment and 'Divinia' is a gentle, slow paced ballad marked by it's piercing piano refrain. 'Got Blinded' is perhaps Bundick's finest vocal performance yet, his falsetto tones sounding more vulnerable than ever.

But is this the point? Underneath The Pine sounds like a frigging brilliant psychedelic album by a seventies soul artist. Which is admittedly fantastic. But ultimately this isn't the album we wanted - it's interesting, sure, but Toro Y Moi appears to have lost something along the way.

This week I got into a debate following the piece on Justice's new single over whether artists are okay just staying the same or if they need to continuously move on. My view is that progression is crucial but what I hadn't considered is the importance of time. Justice has let years fall away but have come back as if nothing has changed in the world. Toro Y Moi has done the opposite - a year after his first album we have a follow up that feels like it skips an important bridging album.

Underneath The Pine is a lovely album - it just wasn't the album we wanted.

BP x

Underneath The Pine is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].