In Do the Shuffle, one of our team members puts their iPod on shuffle and makes a playlist out of the first ten songs that play. It’s a great way to find new music or rediscover the old stuff. Enjoy!
http://open.spotify.com/user/smashcutreviews/playlist/3pbCQijWocfc5F1ub7NBbt
When I talked about while (1<2)’s first disc (see the review here) as being this perfectly paced venture into a non-traditional deadmau5 album, I meant it. Everything about the first disc brought new light into the way that house albums could be played, and if it was just kept at the first disc it would’ve been more than enough. I’m only saying this because the second disc does not bring the same punch as the first. I’ll explain why in a minute.
When you hear a deadmau5 song, you think of the pumping bass, the kicking hooks, and sometimes the screaming voice of Gerard Way in the background while watching him fight in a giant robot amongst a crowd of thunderous fans… just me? ok. You don’t think of the piano interludes and the “gentle” deadmau5, you think of the “bursting with personality, assaulting” deadmau5. And although the first disc was a huge change of pace for Mr. Zimmerman, he still retained the house tracks throughout and kept that punch like Floyd Mayweather. BUT, when the second disc comes into play, it shouldn’t have to take 8 tracks (SERIOUSLY, 8 TRACKS) to get into the full Tron-like prog-house jam that we’ve come to expect.
The second disc is paced and laid out like a soundtrack to a movie about a DJ who can’t make it like his friends can or something to that effect. I can praise the instrumentals for the use of piano and even acoustic guitar, but it’s not house, it’s not progressive house, it’s not even resembling anything close to what Zimmerman’s put out in recent years. “Acedia”, “Errors in my Bread”, “Mercedes” and “Pets” are the only house-like tracks on this disc, and I say “house-like” because they’re surprisingly underwhelming and dare I say, nice. I don’t follow most house musicians for their “nice” music, I follow so I can be punched in the face and ask “please, may I have another?”
That being said, the piano tracks are beautifully arranged and have a somber tone to them, just like in the first disc. A track that really piqued my interest was “A Moment to Myself” which incorporated little glitches and ambient synths that make it seem like a lost M83 track that’s great for taking a load off from a long day. The remix of Nine Inch Nails’ “Survivalism” was decent too, but it’s not like the How to Destroy Angels’ remix in the first disc. And the final track “Seeya”, has the grooves of Disclosure, but like most of the album, it’s NOT. DEADMAU5. (And more importantly, it took 14 tracks to get to this REALLY GOOD TRACK?).
Anyway, as a whole, the album is a crazy change from > album title goes here <, and it is refreshing to hear a new take on house music. However, the name deadmau5 has a lot of weight in the EDM world and if it was put under another name it would be just a decent album. The instrumentals are nice, but it’s not house. The whole album is nice, but that’s not the style we’ve come to love. There are a few tracks that leave you wanting more, but what you get is not what you wanted. Joel Zimmerman, if you’re gonna make a new album with a new sound, don’t make it musical whiplash next time.
Honeyblood’s debut reminds me of Veronica Falls’ Waiting for Something to Happen, some Icona Pop, Widowspeak, and a splash of The Breeders and Yuck. It’s a mish-mash of sounds and ideas while still maintaining a really cool sound that should be praised but falls under the umbrella of most household names in indie pop.
The sound is praise-worthy and the production for most of the songs sounds like the crunch of leaves from fall; it’s brittle, it’s loud and it’s something to marvel at. The drums crash and the guitars have a great dynamic between the grind of the tracks themselves and the chorus effect staple. You can hear the little influences with the slow, headbobbin’ grooves of the guitar and the vocals that seem angelic and juxtaposed with the devilish production.
The songs have an immediate punch to them- while they don’t get as loud as bands like The Men and My Bloody Valentine, they have a power to them that makes you feel “just punk enough”. “Biro” and “(I’d Rather Be) Anywhere But Here” take it a bit smoother with catchy indie-pop lyrics talking about the problems of the past and the overall ennui of life, love and hometowns. But that’s where the umbrella comes in.
Most indie pop has had these lyrics about leaving home and missing someone and complaining about no change and complaining about change, the whole spiel is getting very old and I want a little edge and variety with my indie pop nowadays. “Fall Forever”, “Killer Bangs”, “Choker”, “No Spare Key”, “Joey” they all have just about the same theme and if you’ve never heard of Honeyblood you’d just think it was the indie pop Pitchforked flavor-of-the-month.
Final Verdict: As amazing as it is to listen to the instrumentation and clever breaks and vocal melodies that fill this album, digging any deeper isn’t going to yield a diamond. You’ll find some garnet and some cubic zirconium, but nothing that’s worth as much as it was years ago.
Antarctigo Vespucci is a project that was born from musical masterminds Jeff Rosenstock, who just recently put the music collective Bomb the Music Industry! to bed, and Fake Problems’ vocalist Chris Farren. What was created was an incredible 7-song debut called Soulmate Stuff that brought me to believe that no matter which way the music industry goes, two friends can get still get together and make amazing music.
That’s part of the charm of the album, that everything feels so organic. There’s no cohesion or planning. The sound of the album is hard to pin down since it feels like the duo didn’t want to be tied down to a specific genre. It pulls from nearly era of rock. Some songs, like “Don’t Die in Yr Hometown,” sound like they fell of of Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A, but then “I’m Giving of U2” and “Bang!” are reminiscent of Weezer’s catchy choruses and relatable lyrics.
The instrumentation contributes to the album’s uniqueness with some tracks backed solely by an acoustic guitar and some become so varied in their instrumentation that something like a glockenspiel could be heard. Farren supplies the vocals to all seven tracks, which is an added bonus considering his laid back emo voice adds so much familiarity. As do the lyrics like: “Just don’t fade out/cause all I want to do is ride my bike and think about sex, yeah.”
It must be said that Casey Lee’s guitar solo in “I’m Giving Up on U2” and Laura Stevenson’s vocals on “Sometimes” are incredible additions to this album.
It’s something to rock out to in the shower or car, or just when you need sometime alone. They supply the summer jams that we have so desperately been wanting all winter. Apparently this might be a one time gig for Chris Farren and Jeff Rosenstock and if it is then so be it, because what they created is timeless.
Want to know what the most charming album of 2014 is? Well, you found the right review. PHOX is a six-piece indie pop band out of Wisconsin who prior to this year has only released an EP. However, the band has been at it for years and that shows in this album. I’m a guy out of a town that I am shocked to know more than 3 people in, so when these hometown friends exude a charm that is so unique and endearing, it was a bit comforting.
Their first full-length self-titled effort combines all the elements you’re looking for in a folk album with the elements of a pop album and brings them to a happy medium to create a sound that sounds so familiar, but you can’t place. The familiarity is comforting, but when the album begins to soar, like in the track “Evil” with its light guitar strums and surreal harmonies, you just have to buy into it.
After the charming two opening tracks, we come to the album’s lead single “Slow Motion”. Monica Martin is completely charming with her smokey and ever-moving vocals. The song is gently reminiscent of a gentle soul groove, but incorporates elements of folk to create a smooth and catchy track the perfectly leads into the strictly folk “1936”. With its soft guitar twangs and harmonic vocals, the track gives us yet another taste of this hometown charm that this group is bringing.
Despite the album’s charisma and seeming innocence, songs like “Laura” bring us lyrics like: “you can try and hide away from all the things that people say, that you need to be ok but you just stay the same.” That is the type of narrative maturity that makes the band so refreshing. So often in a band’s first outing are the lyrics so shallow and insincere, but there is a candor in the writing here. There are moments where that shallowness comes out, but it is always made up for with the punchy melodies supporting them.
PHOX sounds like an album written by a group that has has far more experience than this relatively young band. With tight harmonies, catchy melodies, and captivating instrumentation, PHOX was able to deliver an album that gives the listener everything they need to fall for a band. While the album lacks the power that we’re yearning for from the beginning, it doesn’t fail to deliver some great tracks.
To start off, let’s call this a column. I’d like to talk about a band that I found a few years back off the sidebar of a Porcupine Tree video: The Pineapple Thief. The video that I clicked on was the song “3000 Days”, which, to this day, is still my favorite track by the band. While they shared some clear musical similarities with PT, they are definitely a group unique to themselves.
The progressive rock group is the brainchild of British guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Bruce Soord. Now in its 15th year, the band has released nine albums with a tenth due in September.
Despite an always-varied production taking elements from various genres, their songs can be divided up into three general categories. First, there are the rockers, which combine organic guitars and vocals with synthesizers and electronically treated instruments. Then there are the more acoustically driven numbers, with delicate instrumentation and impassioned performances. Finally, there are the longer experimental pieces, such as the brooding twenty-seven minute “What Have We Sown”.
All very well written and expertly produced, The Pineapple Thief is a great listen for both fans of modern progressive music, as well as more open-minded mainstream music fans.
In Do the Shuffle, one of our team members puts their iPod on shuffle and makes a playlist out of the first ten songs that play. It’s a great way to find new music or rediscover the old stuff. Enjoy!
http://open.spotify.com/user/smashcutreviews/playlist/7qa3pWDOhLMaOzrW8cUOv7
If you were born in the early 90’s, you might have discovered a few years back a vague but fond recollection of R&B radio hits of that decade. You’ll recognize the names: Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Jodeci and their spin-off K-Ci & JoJo, Boyz II Men… Keith Sweat. This rekindled affection may have stemmed, in part, from releases like Love Remains, How To Dress Well’s first album. That album sounded like a half-remembered memory in and of itself, hazy and collaged together, and helped spawn a tackily-named sub-genre whose artists helped push the boundaries of popular music in turn. Now, that movement has played out in the same way that so many others have in the Internet age, with the wheat separating itself from the chaff through instantly classic albums. Krell has solidified his status in that superior group with his latest release, What Is This Heart?
In his relatively short career, Krell has time and time again pushed the boundaries of R&B in exciting directions by refracting pop music through his own lens. Up to this point, his songs have played like deliciously deconstructed or even outright damaged gems, simultaneously proving the worth and endurance of a good pop song, first through the noise of Love Remains, and then by pulling that noisy veil back to reveal how vulnerable silence can sound on Total Loss, his previous full-length. What Is This Heart? synthesizes those aural theses into actual pop music; it achieves universality while also breaking its own new ground. Newness in the idea that the sounds found on this album are the result of a careful distillation and reduction of pop music trends of the last three decades, bringing out the highest physical and emotional catharsis within each song. The bass and synth strings on “What You Wanted”, screwed vocals on “Face Again”, subtle, slightly 808s and Heartbreaks auto-tune on “Precious Love”, the Purple Rain coda homage on “Words I Don’t Remember”, and guitar sounds pulled from just about everywhere in 80s and 90s music found throughout the album are all executed with enough precision and restraint to remind you why Top 40 radio overuses them. Much in the way that Love Remains rekindled a love for that later period of R&B, What Is This Heart? lets the listener delight in the blur of something new, exciting, and yet somehow familiar.
Part of this credit has to be given to producer Rodaidh McDonald, who worked with Krell on Total Loss. The pristine sheen he applies here is similar to the kind found on that album, but emphasizes the usage of space to more dramatic effect. This is especially apparent on the balladesque tracks “See You Fall” and “Pour Cyril,” where washes of sound fill formerly naked space epically yet without bombast. The opener, “2 Years On (Shame Dream)”, evokes a humbleness even as it reaches a crescendo, a breath of noise behind Krell’s singing of shaaaame on a note just out of your range. Those signature super-processed Love Remains-style vocals appear now and then to raise the stakes, to build that cathedral of harmony as only found on How To Dress Well records. But the presence of these large sounds act as the atmosphere for other, smaller sounds to exist in, as is the case with “What You Wanted”. A wood-knock rhythm and synth-y sounding guitar flourish against the aforementioned synth strings and huge bass, popping out and making memories. It’s a special moment early on in an album filled with them.
How To Dress Well’s focal point, even in its noisier days, has always been on the vocals. Krell is at his strongest both vocally and lyrically on this album, his falsetto soaring as he ruminates on love of the familial and romantic variety, as well as philosophy approaching religion and death. “2 Years On (Shame Dream)” is a stark vignette about family, love, and things that are out of one’s control. Despite being perhaps the most sonically minimalist of the tracks, it sets the tone of the album through its emotional honesty. This is punctuated and emphasized through the rhythm of Krell’s delivery, which has always been one of his strongest assets. “No one ever told you life would be this unfair but oh it is” stands out in that song as it builds and tumbles down, notes and rhythm working in unison, poetic without pulling punches. On the follow up song, “What You Wanted”, a staccato performance in the first verse leads into a chorus that dominates rhythmically: “You never say just what you wanted when you want it”. The lyrics do venture into more impressionistic territories at times, but never at the expense of conveying some kind of feeling. The previous two HTDW albums established that Krell does that well, but when “Face Again” conveys personal conflict and confusion in such a way that you’re yelling them with him like you’re at Warped Tour, you realize that he’s developed his songwriting talent even further. “House Inside (Future is Older than the Past)” is as close to gospel music as philosophy (writ large) is going to get, providing hope without explanation or resolution, but merely the statement “this world is such a pretty thing”. It’s a beautiful way to end an album that spends its time expressing the tension between hopes and tribulations.
The most succinct summation of the entire album lies in the three song run of “Repeat Pleasure”, “Words I Don’t Remember”, and “Pour Cyril”. It has the hooks, emotional bareness, and penchant for the epic. And even with that, it doesn’t tell the full story of an album that begs to be taken fully in a single dose. If Total Loss was supposed to sprawl with sincerity a la Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope, then WITH takes that sprawl and personal honesty and condenses it while also amplifying every eccentricity, every signature sound within each song. The entire album is a masterpiece in that it captures Krell’s vision of “pop without being populist,” and is the strongest evidence of “artistic growth” that any artist has shown in years, however misconstrued that notion may be.
-Kyle J. Greco
Stellar news! This town IS big enough for two noisy-angry Copenhagen bands on Matador Records. We are now introduced to Lower, and their album, Seek Warmer Climes. Contrasted with the hardcore punk influence of Iceage- a local contemporary- Lower brings a heavy early goth/post-punk feel. This is Lower’s first full-length, and fortunately for them, it’s on a pretty solid record label.
Lower’s sound leads me to believe that they performed a séance to channel post-punk band Bauhaus when they simply could have phoned the band since all of its members are still alive. From this, we got deep, introspective, free form post-punk glory but without the horrible gated snare drum sound that plagued so many bands from the 1980s. The drums, in fact, are quite lovely if I might add. Very tom heavy, but not in the cheesy tribal way that dime-a-dozen indie pop bands do it. The floor tom gets plenty of air time here. It feels like a heartbeat, purposefully faster than a human heartbeat, leaving you struggling to keep up. The bass guitar is reminiscent of a classic low end sound, a bass guitar with a humbucking neck pickup played with a pick near the bridge. This tried and true method gives a heavy, chunky bass tone that has no problem cutting through the mix. The guitar is as much a forefront instrument as the drums. But this isn’t a guitar-centered band whatsoever. The guitar is played harshly, but the tone is not. It comes off jangly, lightly distorted, with a hint of chorus shimmer. The guitarist plays a Jazzmaster, objectively the best guitar in existence (according to me). Vocals here are your typical European post-punk fare, where the vocalist sounds like he should be yelling at you, but isn’t. It fits in well with the music. It is dark, but hopeful, despite being pessimistic.
The cover art features a photograph of a fellow, clad completely in white, who appears to have just fallen in some red dirt, possibly on Tatooine. He wears a painful demeanor on his face, as if he were a young lad who had just dropped his ice cream. I believe it speaks well to the overall tone of the album. In an interview with Pitchfork, vocalist Adrian Toubro describes his influences from boredom in life, to famous poets and novelists. One of the songs describes his time spent in Africa, disillusioned, and almost kidnapped in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam.
I enjoy most of the songs on this album. It can drag a bit. Might be a lot to chew all at once for some. This isn’t the most accessible music in the world, but if you enjoy it then to hell with everyone else. The album clocks in a tad under 35 minutes. Any longer and it would have watered down the message. Check out “Soft Option”, a gem packed into the B-Side of the record and “Another Life”, the first song on the album.
Seek Warmer Climes is best enjoyed live and in person. Not that I would know, just seems like they’d be a damn fine live band. I just looked up their USA tour dates. They played in Philly a few months ago. Bollocks…
Many think of Heavy Metal or any of the subgenres like Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, Sludge Metal, Serbian Turbo-Folk Metal and the like as an acquired taste. Some are right to think that way, but it gives us the chance to laud some of the albums that let us enter into another world of music without being punched in the face with some of the deeper cuts in the genre. The only reason I’m saying this is because Mastodon’s “Once More ‘Round the Sun” is an accessible metal album that also delivers for the fans who want to hear more of the sludginess and technicality.
If you’re coming from albums like Blood Mountain, Remission and Leviathan then this is going to be a bit weird. The vocals are a lot cleaner and the production value changes IMMENSELY from Mastodon’s earlier stuff. There are some gruff moments like in the title track “Once More ‘Round the Sun”, “Tread Lightly” and “Feast Your Eyes” where the vocals seem to growl with the fury of the Metal Gods. But the main thing to praise throughout this entire album is the technicality in the instrumentation. The drums have never felt so evil and blasting with quick snare hits, and the use of the ride in almost every song swoops in and takes you in the talons of a winged beast. And “Halloween” has that punk rock energy that has an original Mastodon flair to it, progressive in every way down to the end.
But heavy metal mythology aside, the songs that are brimming with influences on its sleeves are fantastic. Songs like “Chimes at Midnight” have that Avenged Sevenfold-like doom looming over it and the vocals seem to take the same road without being so 7th grade, whereas “Asleep in the Deep” takes the Soundgarden (yeah, I said it) aesthetic of alternative rock that’s so prominent in the chorus that you wouldn’t be able to tell who was playing. “Ember City” also continues the soft vocals with a catchy chorus that pleads “And it was slipping away! What do I say to you? What do I say to you? And if I want you to stay? What do I say to you? What do I say to you?” It almost rivals the little “I need a little escape” on “Black Albino Bones” from Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life.
There might be a few moments on here that don’t quite hit the mark. “Aunt Lisa” sounded a bit noisy and scatter-brained and although it had QOTSA-like choral vocals, the music itself was way too distracting for me to pay attention, just like “Floating Coffin” from Thee Oh Sees’ album last year. And the last track “Diamond in the Witch House” is just another one of the final tracks that I utterly ignored. Not only is the length daunting, but it’s almost constant in terms of the beat and it’s forgettable in my opinion.
Final Verdict: This is easily one of the most catchy, accessible, and yet well-crafted metal albums I’ve heard since Kvelertak’s debut. It will entertain even the most novice of metalheads and the most devout of alterna-rockers. With its clean production but sludgy and progressive technicality, it has some of my favorite songs of the year so far and will be going in my book as a near-perfect metal album.
In Do the Shuffle, one of our team members puts their iPod on shuffle and makes a playlist out of the first ten songs that play. It’s a great way to find new music or rediscover the old stuff. Enjoy!
http://open.spotify.com/user/smashcutreviews/playlist/3s7EXcmDx1UmfGnkLbZTLF
In our newest segment, one of our team members puts their iPod on shuffle and makes a playlist out of the first ten songs to play. It’s a great way to find new music or rediscover the old stuff.
http://open.spotify.com/user/smashcutreviews/playlist/5kbkNHtf14nmJ9Vg0fQqwO
In Do the Shuffle, one of our team members puts their iPod on shuffle and makes a playlist out of the first ten songs that play. It’s a great way to find new music or rediscover the old stuff. Enjoy!
“Operating” | Hunter Hunted
“Treetops” | Beat Radio
“Solar Eclipse” | Seahaven
“Cycle” | Beck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJzJmUGx5oM
“Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now” | The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uei2DJ7vE0c
“Arms” | Graham Colton
“Screen” | Twenty One Pilots
“Crooked Teeth” | Death Cab for Cutie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CydL91xZak
“Ohio is for Lovers” | Hawthorne Heights
“Theme to Piñata” | Bright Eyes
If you want to talk about musical progression by album, I don’t think there’s a better example than Southend-on-Sea’s The Horrors. Since their debut, these guys have been changing up their style, experimenting with new ideas, expanding their instrumentation prowess, and overall having no comfort zone. They’ve gone through straight creepy, haunted house garage punk on Strange House, noisy and wavy shoegaze/post-punk on Primary Colours, and Tame Impala-like psychedelic pop and rock on Skying. I’ve been waiting on this release since it’s announcement back in early 2013, it’s been pushed back 15 months and now I’ve got the chance to see what it has to offer.
Within the first burst of sound that comes from “Chasing Shadows”, you hear that the sound has been slightly altered from Skying with the synthesizers being the prominent instruments rather than the traditional drums, bass, and guitar. It takes a while to get into the opener, which is a give-or-take thing when it comes to intros, but when it finally builds up, it delivers. Throughout the album there are sounds that are familiar from other artists that these guys add in rather well. Strums reminiscent of 70’s and 80’s krautrock, cascading synths from Lonerism, and simple but grooving basslines from bands like Peace.
“First Day of Spring” and “In And Out of Sight” have that energy that The Horrors have been known for since Primary Colours and paired up with the danceable synths that come right out of a Cut Copy B-Side, it’s refreshing to hear them not be so somber. “I See You”, the lead single is bursting with pop potential as a summer anthem. There is so much 80’s cheese that it’s perfect for today’s hipster audiences. “Mine and Yours” has a really cool wah-wah guitar sound that’s completely psychedelic and packs a lot of noise in a short song. It’s like what Dumbo Gets Mad’s LAST ALBUM should’ve been. “Sleepwalk” is a beautiful, soft rock closer that leaves you falling back to bed with a catchy chorus. Most of these songs are very well written and have their own unique production tricks, but there are a few elements of each that either don’t sit well or are kind of shocking to hear.
For example, “I See You” would have to be cut down to a radio edit because of the 3 minute outro that detracts from the fun rather than adds to it. “Falling Star” is enjoyable but the production is a bit wonky at times with the effects on the main guitar lead. It’s a cool sound, but I don’t think it would go over very well with a lot of listeners. A moment that freaked me out was when “Jealous Sun” started and it sounded like a discount My Bloody Valentine’s “I Only Said”. The chorus on “Jealous Sun” is great, but the rest of it seems like a rehashed shoegaze sound, relaxing but it’s been done. There are also times on here where I wished I heard less of Faris’ vocals. “Change Your Mind” would be nice if they had the guy from Film School do the vocals, but it doesn’t fit Faris. Slow and sultry isn’t his style, especially once you’ve heard “Sheena is a Parasite”.
Final Verdict: The album is very solid even with the little nitpicks of the influences on it’s sleeve. The tracks are dreamy and it didn’t stray too far away from Skying, which was one of my favorite albums of 2011. The synthesizer leads and production tricks bring it together, making the album feel a lot grander. It’s as if this dream pop is inducing a dream of flying cities and bright bursting lights and gorgeous cloudscapes that you remember just as you wake up and you can’t wait to write it down. If you want to relax, if you want to dance, if you want to escape to somewhere while taking a walk, if you want nostalgia, this album has it all and it was well worth the wait, despite its flaws.
NOTE: Tackling this album as a whole would be insane. The entire album with both discs is over 4 hours long, so I decided to put them up as their own individual discs and compare them later. But, the show must go on, and this is what I have to say about disc one.
I didn’t think I’d like anything released by house artists since turning on the radio lately, but Deadmau5 always comes out and surprises me. As much as I dislike the overplayed hype of EDM on z100 or any other top 100 station, it’s nice to see some diversity album-wise. I haven’t heard most of while (1<2) on the radio lately, instead I’ve heard some David Guetta and that one song from Disclosure but not the rest of the album (seriously guys, come on, Settle is godlike), but no real notoriety for Deadmau5. And if this first disc doesn’t show you what mainstream house producers are capable of… I don’t know what to tell you.
The first disc starts off with your standard house jams like “Avarita” and “My Pet Coelacanth” just to get you into the mood, but when you hear his remix of “Ice Age” by How to Destroy Angels you know he means business. It’s a lot different from these house jams but still has a subtle intensity that slowly fills the track. The varied instrumentation and electronic blips seems more like a Boards of Canada remix rather than what we’ve come to expect from the mau5. “Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer” jumps straight back into the fun before it takes a dark turn with “Terrors in My Head” and “Creep”, which is a gorgeous piano-led electronic saunter through dark glitches and bitcrushed snares. This is the saddest I’ve seen Deadmau5, and he knows how to convey that emotion well in his music.
The sadness continues as “Somewhere Up Here” comes into play, but the piano seems to lighten up the mood, like finding a light at the end of the tunnel and being mystified on what you’ve stumbled upon. It’s slow, it grooves, and it’s sexy with the voices whispering incoherently in the background. “Phantoms Can’t Hang” is a good single for those just getting into electronica and house music, but to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of it. But the final track “Gula” is a great mixture of what we’ve heard from this disc. Smooth piano and the most booming bass this disc has to offer, it’s the borderline of sanity and insanity.
Final Verdict: Although it lacks some of the more intense moments that >insert album title here< had, it makes up for it by the sheer diverse moments that are on the first part. The piano parts that are scattered throughout do give a sense of dread and somber seclusion, but it’s nice to hear it have the pacing of a traditional album and still be interesting for house artist today. I don’t know what the next disc will bring, but I’m hoping for the best.