Here’s how this segment works:
I’ll listen to as many albums as possible throughout the week, break down buzz worthy choices and then stamp them with either; Unripe (intriguing), Ripening (gratifying) or Ripe (choice of the week).
Albums I listened to that I didn’t feel warranted a discussion:
- Beach Day – Trip Trap
- Deafheaven – Sunbather
- Empire Of The Sun – Ice On The Dune
- Hospital Ships – Destruction In Yr Soul
- James Holden – The Inheritors
- Mac Miller – Watching Movies With The Sound Off
- oOoOO – Without Your Love
- Serengeti – Kenny Dennis
- Smith Westerns – Soft Will
- Spectrals – Sob Story
- Tunng – Turbines
- Quasimoto – Yessir Whatever
Kanye West – Yeezus
- Released : June 18th, 2013
- For Fans of: Jay-Z , Pusha T or Kendrick Lamar .
- The Harvest: Unripe
Sampling has been a major fixture in commercial hip-hop ever since Stevie Wonder impressed kids with a sampler in 1986 on the biggest show of the 1980s – The Bill Cosby Show . It’s always been part of hip-hop culture and always been a strength of Kanye West s’ production, from the use of ‘ Spirit in the Dark ’ by Aretha Franklin on three separate tracks on his 2004 debut album The College Dropout, to ‘ I Got A Women ’ by Ray Charles on the hit single ‘ Gold Digger ’. These tracks are able to hold their own structurally because they are far enough removed from the original sample’s context. On Yeezus, however, his use of samples sound merely strategical in order to salvage the quality of his own instrumentation shortcomings.
Take the light, upbeat highlight closing track ‘ Bound 2 ’, that samples ‘ Bound ’ by Ponderosa Twins Plus One only for it to serve as a tension-release tactic. Essentially you could just listen to the original and avoid the bombing of rudimentary lyricism such as ” I know I got a bad reputation – Walking ’round, always mad reputation – Leave a pretty girl sad reputation – Start a Fight Club, Brad reputation ”. Then there’s ‘ Guilt Trip ’ that’s a faster version of ‘ Blocka ’ by Pusha T , but without the same sentimental values. While the pulsing electronic duo TNGHT generate an element of electricity on ‘ Blood On The Leaves ’, the return of auto-tune, basic fundamental rhythms and the unholy use of ‘ Strange Fruit ’ by Nina Simone obnoxiously drags on.
The obvious new aggressive influence on Yeezus comes from Stefan Burnett’ s project Death Grips and this works particularly well on ‘ Black Skinhead ’. It also happens to be the only track where Kanye doesn’t feel the need to dig for a sample-salvation – although as the track progresses he gets typically lost in his own world and he steps away from what made the track originally engaging – that power-riff.
That’s the biggest difference – he’s too concerned about stating his opinions, that he hasn’t taken the time to provide every track with a quality vessel. There’s the one-take ping-pong beat on ‘ On Sight ’, the jejune production on ‘ I Am A God ’, and the rebarbative squelching noise on ‘ Hold My Liquor ’, where he addresses that subject with very little creatively – imagine for example the inventive results if the track was tackled by Outkast , Shabazz Palaces or Madlib .
At this point in Kanye’s career, the cross-over appeal lies in his extensive production that was redolent on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , but just like its album cover, Yeezus ‘s foundation is caustic.
Zomby – With Love
- Released : June 18th, 2013
- For Fans of: Clams Casino , Araabmuzik or Holy Other .
- The Harvest: Unripe
The mysterious hip-hip instrumentalist Zomby from London has defined his sound clearly since his 2008 debut Where Were U In ’92? with his creepy dark beats that burst in quickly, generally at a mid tempo and fade out before being required to evolve or over complicate the track. This was an interesting concept on his first two albums, but the effect has its limits when dragged out for over 80 minutes on album number three With Love .
You know there’s an issue when you get practically the same result listening to the albums 30 second ITunes previews as listening to the full purchased product. Although all 33 tracks are impressive sonically, it’s just that after 30 seconds you’ve heard 90% of what that tracks going to offer you. This wouldn’t be a major issue if all the tracks progressively flowed into one another but the album is constantly broken up by either a misplaced DnB track or samples previously used such as ‘ Digital Smoke ’, that’s a re-work of ‘ Digital Rain ’ from his previous album, but far more under developed.
Short fire song structures can work if you’re a punk band such as OFF! or slacker band such as Wavves or Parquet Courts , but Zomby’s layers here are too thin and only once does he attempt to work with a vocal sample on the track ‘ If I Will ’ and it’s comes off dry and not the most natural of textual pairings.
Two possible directions for Zomby to take could either be to extend and elaborate the track lengths as his peers Clams Casino and Araabmuzik do or embrace the dark hip-hop element by collaborating with artists such as Cities Aviv or A$AP Rocky (who he admires).
Austra – Olympia
- Released : June 18th, 2013
- For Fans of: Iamamiwhoami , Grimes or Zola Jesus .
- The Harvest: Unripe
Austra ’s lead singer Katie Stelmanis knows her strength; the ability to sing multiple octaves while applying interesting pitch adjustments live and this sweet sound is easy to warm too, but that’s not the issue Austra have on Olympia . Their is a distinct lack of memorable hooks to be found across the album and the abundance of melody diversity wears thin towards the end of many tracks.
One way they side step this problem is by the backup vocals of twins Sari and Romy Lightman , who together with Stelmanis are vocal tornado of enchanting harmonies, especially on the albums front half with the deeply layered ‘ Forgive Me ’, the smooth ‘ Painful Like ’ and maybe their most convincing piece of work to date on ‘ Home ’.
The album’s back half relies solely on Katie’s vocals to carry them to significantly less effect. This is particularly evident on the track ‘ Fire ’ where, once you dig past her beautiful vocals, the arrangement suffers from no real distinction. The effect is noticeable in clunky flow on ‘ We Become ’ that attempts to incorporate an RnB flavour and ‘ Hurt Me Now ’ that has a strong vocal hook in the chorus but never threatens to branch off or become adventurous in any form.
The lack of surprises and risks taken limit how excited the band can make you feel. Only on ‘ Annie (Oh Muse, You) ’, thanks to the inclusion of a flute by Alia O’Brien , does the band not sound overly structured. Except for the hit singles ‘ Lose It ‘ and ‘ Beat And The Pulse ’, this is an issue that has carried over from their debut album Feel It Break where the band constantly played it safe, leaving them reasonably consistent, but frustratingly restrained.
Melt Yourself Down – Melt Yourself Down
- Released : June 17th, 2013
- For Fans of: !!! , Battles or Santana .
- The Harvest: Ripening
World music is never the same when recorded in the studio; half the appeal is in its live crowd interaction. Without the ability to mix up its own arrangements on repeat listens, every instrument must be woven together just so. For the majority of their debut effort, the combinations between the two saxophones and bass guitar are undeniably effective.
Melt Yourself Down are a party and they touch upon ground from the percussion rave work of !!!, the loose individual sounds of Santana and the sharp instrumentals of Battles, with vocals you can’t understand for better or worse.
This formula is engaging on tracks such as ‘ Fix My Life ’ that’s a crazy, funky and a middle eastern jam. To the half reggae, half Indian music on the saxophone led ‘ Tuna ’ and ‘ We Are Enough ’ that’s tight, bouncing and built for the festival environment. Then on ‘ Kingdom Of Kush ’ all seven members are at the top their respective games, working together ever so naturally.
When they’re on the front foot it’s a lot of fun but soon as they try to slow it down or tackle a track with a different approach, the results become a little more questionable, from ‘ Mouth To Mouth ’ that’s surprisingly dark and uninviting in comparison to the opening five tracks, and ‘ Camel ’ that without Kushal Gaya ‘s abrasive vocals, it just falls into generic world music.
It’s a short LP, but there’s more than enough highlights here to suggest Melt Yourself Down can become more than just a festival must-see-band down the road.
Sigur Rós – Kveikur
- Released : June 17th, 2013
- For Fans of: Explosions In The Sky , Radiohead or Godspeed You! Black Emperor .
- The Harvest: Ripe
When Sigur Rós went on a hiatus after Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust in 2008, the lead singer Jonsi went off to release a solo album and the band eventually returned with Valtari last year to mixed reviews. A lot of people believed the band were creativity running dry of new ideas, but Valtari was actually a beautifully confident record. Some people couldn’t come to grips with its minimalism because, unfortunately for most, Sigur Rós will always be pigeon-holed into the post-rock genre.
If anything, Jonsi’s solo album should have served as a notice for the group’s potential diversification beyond post-rock and that debate should be laid to rest after Kveikur . The album isn’t perfect. After ‘ Brennisteinn ’s dramatic opening sets the tone, the albums two biggest missteps, ‘ Hrafntinna ’ & ‘ Isjaki ’, hurt its momentum and it’s actually because of Jonsi who is unsettlingly out of sync with the melodies.
The band then fire off perhaps their most striking five track sequence since their classic Ágætis byrjun album back in 1999: ‘ Yfirbord ’ is enthrallingly gloomy in atmosphere; ‘ Stormur ’ is a sweet track Jonsi never incorporated with Sigur Ros prior to his solo album; the title track ’ Kveikur is carried by big distorted guitar tones and edgy drumming – the drumming in general is the most consistently dynamic aspect of Kveikur, especially in comparison to previous albums; the the innocent ‘ Rafstraumur ’ and glorious ‘ Blapradu r’ round out that brilliant run.
Despite the heaviness providing another layer to Sigur Ros discography, the band still haven’t embraced challenging themselves with different structural formats and there’s no track as inspirational as my personal favourite ’ Hoppípolla ’ from the Takk… album, but Kveikur is a success and it’ll secure them more headline slots throughout the next couple of festival seasons.
WORDS BY Marcus Rimondini
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