ALBUM REVIEW: Atlas Sound – Logos
words: Jamie Milton
The career of Bradford Cox, under the moniker Atlas Sound and fronting critical darlings Deerhunter, is indeterminate. The sporadic means by which Cox writes and releases his songs highlights this; songs are leaked by himself at times, other times they’re leaked by others. He goes weeks without writing a song and then he’ll release a good twenty tracks in six months. Make note that at any time he could pack it in without looking back. He is in the fullest control of his own actions and it was his decision to make ‘Logos’, the second Atlas Sound release, simply something to pass by, not stop at, when speeding past the increasingly lengthy collation of his achievements.
That’s not to say ‘Logos’ isn’t up to standard with the rest of Cox’s output. But there’s just a general sense of carelessness and spaciousness that at times hinders the album but at the same time, is its greatest asset.
This is an album following the example made by ‘Weird Era. Cont‘, the accompanying “b-sides package” that came with last year’s full-length ‘Microcastle‘. It to some extent exceeded its superior because of its rousing ability to sound not half-arsed, but almost purposefully lax. Genres, ideas, came and went in the space of thirty seconds. What sounded like unfinished pieces of music somehow managed to fit together like a puzzle, with nothing spared. That’s how ‘Weird Era…‘ worked and that’s exactly how ‘Logos’ works.
Because on ‘Logos’ you’re presented with not just the sporadic imagination of Bradford Cox. Here, he arrives hand in hand with members of Stereolab and Animal Collective, their guest appearances slotting songs that sound – you guessed it – like Animal Collective and Stereolab songs, in between quintessential, hazy Cox-led material. Detached, ‘Walkabout’ is a childish, sharp anthem questioning the aspirations of one’s future – “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Laetitia Sadier’s appearance on ‘Quick Canal’ too, is more than just a centerpiece. A knife-edged, stop-start bassline contrasting to the glossy company comprised primarily by Sadier’s clear, streamlined vocals (the complete opposite of Cox’s own). In album format, they sound completely out of place but make no mistake: they’re the masterstrokes of a difficult album to get your head around.
When the limelight is set upon him, Cox plays the role of incognito, swimming uneasily between indecipherable, jerk-noise on ‘Kid Klimax’ to the more destined ‘Criminals’, boasting one of the finest melodies to come from Cox’s busy brain to date.
‘Logo’’s letdown comes from the tracklisting. He pits his more accessible material for the early stages, unleashing the more Deerhunter-esque material, ‘Orchid’ and the delicate ‘The Light That Failed’ at the very beginning of the album. The latter half comprises of material less well-rounded and harder to tackle. For the listener, this makes for a record that appears, at least at first glance, peculiarly top-heavy.
But by the time he’s finished, Cox will eventually have enough records under his belt for newcomers to be forced to retreat into hand-picking individual songs rather than albums when it comes to investigating his work for the first time. ‘Logos’ is not where his career peaks but it is yet another ruthless reminder that among us is one of the most creative, free-thinking talents for some time.
Here comes the overstatement of the day: Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox is the single, most important modern musician of our time, today. Right now, he is producing fantastic work after fantastic work and his reputation is in the mean time, growing at such a pace that people are genuinely curious about his personal life, his upbringing and what his future holds.
But ‘Logos’, a quick-fire release only months after his band’s ‘Rainwater Cassette Exchange’ EP, is anything but personal. Granted, he graces the abstract cover of the album nude, lost, face immersed in a bright light. But the fact that you don’t see everything suggests that something’s being hidden. Cox embraces previously unfounded territories on ‘Logos’, removing abstract instrumental parts from his records and replacing them with epic, nine-minute-long electronic adventures. On ‘Criminals’ however, you find the most Deerhunter-esque song on the record, one that might have found itself sitting pretty on 2008’s ‘Microcastle’. The chord sequence is basic yet infectious, and the feel good factor makes up for the slight amount of repetition that occurs. It strikes you from the off as something untouchable, and the absolute standout on the record.
JUNE: This Month’s Releases In Full
words: Jamie Milton
The highlight of my month was seeing the lead singer of Friendly Fires sweat it out on the new turf of the Glastonbury Other Stage with the campest dance routine for some time. It worked, and the crowd loved it. It goes to show, all you need is energy, enthusiasm and people will find it difficult not to warm to you. Even though the greatest entertainer alive has passed, there’s still room for his take on wowing an audience. Hopefully in time, the crop of stars who merely look uninterested, staring down blankly will be abolished. It’s not one of the biggest problems in music, but it might be for live music.
In the recording studio however, things have brightened up. June has been our busiest month to date, releases coming in from all sides. Results vary, but the uniting feature of all, bar a couple, is this sense of determination to make something not just special, but vastly different. This was highlighted first and foremost in our album of the month, Dirty Projectors’ ‘Bitte Orca’. Dave Longstreth incorporated an “accessibility factor” into the record which I declared “makes the whole listen stick in your head rather than forcing you to scratch it in bewilderment.” Kasabian, a less likely act to twist and turn in such style, also produced a forward-thinking record that made no mistake of attempting to abolish a lager-swigging status thrown at them so early in their career. However, I saw it as an unsuccessful move: “It’s when the band stick to their guns that they become a more formidable prospect.”
A couple of “veterans” did indeed stick to their guns, with mixed results. Eels returned to some hostility and criticism towards his latest ‘Hombre Lobo’ concept album. Often deemed safe and restrictive, for an album that covered one single subject, ‘desire’, more could have been made of it. On the EP front, Deerhunter returned after only a short while with their surprisingly tight and coherent ‘Rainwater Cassette Exchange’, a project that provided an “even more accessible Deerhunter than the band exposed on the last record.”
Debut albums came thick and fast, artists ranging in the size of hype that upheld them. La Roux produced the finest debut of the year to date, a real shock to the system, a record refusing to be dictated by a couple of hit singles. We Were Promised Jetpacks followed a trend of emotional, Scot-bred songwriting, tweaking the sound of Frightened Rabbit and producing something more damaged and edgy. Let’s Wrestle released their first album proper: one “prolonged, aggressive but intelligent chant of triumph.”
The surprise of the month came in the form of Jack Penate – a previously interesting pop star but never one to make a fuss about, his Paul Epworth produced sophomore album inhales African guitars, drums and spirits, carrying the soul and confidence he exited with from his debut. Future Of The Left also turned more heads that previous with their latest. Matt McDonald put it best: “Future of the Left are still nowhere near a headline slot at Glastonbury and a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with Pepsi. But each and every one of their songs communicates the idea that they would never want to be.” That was June.
JUNE’S RELEASES, IN SCORE ORDER:
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca 8.8 [mp3: Two Doves // alt ]
La Roux – La Roux 8.8 [mp3: Colourless Colour // alt ]
Jack Penate – Everything Is New 8.3
Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another 8.3
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange 8.0
White Denim – Fits 7.9
We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls 7.9
Broken Records – Until The Earth Begins To Part 7.9
Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer 7.8
Eels – Hombre Lobo 7.6
Let’s Wrestle – In The Court Of The Wrestling Let’s 7.5
Dinosaur Jr – Farm 7.1|
Amazing Baby – Rewild 6.7 [mp3: Invisible Place // alt ]
Regina Spektor – Far 6.7
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum 6.1
Little Boots – Hands 5.0
The Gossip – Music For Men 4.3
JUNE: The rest of the month’s releases
words: Jamie Milton
For now, Music Fan’s Mic is still a small community of young writers who just about find the time to disregard their studies in order to write a review or two. If you’d like to be part of that team, send us an email (mfmicblog [at] googlemail.com]. But that means when you get a busy month like June, you can’t review all you might want to. Hell, you can’t even find the time to listen to what you’d want to. But over the past few days I’ve been playing catch-up. And here’s some short-spanning reviews of those records (some good, some not so) that we didn’t find the time to cover:
———————————————————————- AMAZING BABY – REWILD Difficult to ignore the MGMT comparisons – the Brooklyn five-piece embrace last year’s sound of the summer and attempt to give it one last push. It doesn’t yet sound dated, but nor does it sound nearly as imaginative and groundbreaking as ‘Oracular Spectacular’. There are still, however, just a small pick of songs that truly take you a-back: ‘Invisible Place’ and ‘Headdress’ most notably.
6.7
———————————————————————- DEERHUNTER – RAINWATER CASSETTE EXCHANGE EP More ‘Weird Era Cont.’ than ‘Microcastle’, Bradford Cox’s imagination runs a-mock once more, immersing itself in more energy than perhaps ever before, resulting in an even more accessible Deerhunter than the band exposed on the last record. This is exemplfied in the streamlined, Strokes-esque ‘Disappearing Ink’, a gorgeously simple pop song if the band ever wrote one. mp3: Circulation // alt
8.0
———————————————————————- DINOSAUR JR. FARM J Mascis and his fellow founding fathers prove that experience counts, even after a prolonged hiatus. Someway beyond…erm, ‘Beyond’, their last record released in 2007, the maintain the kick and the edge that somehow didn’t flee their sound since the 80’s, in fact they maintain pretty much everything, but it’s difficult not to bow down in respect. Such progression from the uninspired releases of the late 90’s, you get the sense they’re back for good.
7.1
———————————————————————- LET’S WRESTLE – IN THE COURT OF THE WRESTLING, LET’S Simplified indie guitars and basic songwriting somehow become all the more intelligent under the brilliant album title and the disturbingly dark themes emerging at times from lyrics. Carrying the swagger and the charm of The Wave Pictures’, this “breakthrough” debut, within a few listens, is one prolonged, aggressive but intelligent chant of triumph.
7.5
———————————————————————- LITTLE BOOTS – HANDS There’s more to ‘Hands’ than just the pathetically direct and turgid new single of Victoria Hesketh’s, ‘New In Town’. Heavy synthetics and dreamlike atmospherics displayed in aforementioned stinker are replenished and polished, transferred into something more enjoyable, particularly through the experimental, provocative moments of ‘Meddle’ and ‘Stuck On Repeat’. This artist has ideas, but through the bandwagon-jump to the electro sound, she sounds restricted, only occasionally free to roam within her own comfort zone.
5.0
———————————————————————- REGINA SPEKTOR – FAR It’s depressingly difficult to decipher whether ‘Far’ is a step up from ‘Begin To Hope’, or a defeatist step down. Depressing, because Spektor made something mainstream and pop in her last record, on ‘Far’ she continues this to some extent, but whilst not producing anything as instantaneous and lovable as ‘Samson’, she’s also nowhere near her experimental best as of ‘Soviet Kitsch’. It’s directly in between, coming across as indecisive, rushed even.
5.9
———————————————————————- SUNSET RUBDOWN – DRAGONSLAYER Spencer Krug, as per usual, enjoys the freedom to roam and express, as he did on this side-project’s previous two records. Whilst ‘Dragonslayer’ is devoid of the uplifting, overwhelming individual triumphs such as those on ‘Random Spirit Lover’, he’s removed the filler of that record and emerged with a piece more consistent and bold instead of something regulated and tied up.
7.8
———————————————————————- WHITE DENIM – FITS The elaborate range of ideas arranged in debut ‘Workout Holiday’ have quickly followed up by something equally diverse in thought and movement. On ‘Fits’, whilst occasionally representing the basking hot Texas sound, cover the Spanish culture in ‘El Hard Attack DCWYW’, go warm, smooth and acoustic on ‘Regina Holding Hands’ and go gung-ho with relenteless, energised lo-fi rock ‘Radio Mild How Can You Stand It’. As of previous, they still haven’t mastered making a concerted, coherent record but you get the gist, that was never the plan. mp3: I Start To Run // alt
It’s a lot of fun being a Deerhunter fan. You only have wait a good six months or so before they update your collection with something fresh, giving your music a well-deserved spring cleaning. The character of Bradford Cox suggests that he has a big work-rate and a whole lot of stamina when it comes to songwriting, and the quick-fire release of ‘Weird Era Cont.’ next to an album it arguably exceeded in terms of quality, ‘Microcastle’, went to show how active Deerhunter were. You can’t seem to spend a month without hearing at least something new about work in progress, a change in sound (something more Strokes-esque has been suggested recently…).
‘Rainwater Cassette Exchange’ is the third release by the band in the last 6-7 months, albeit much shorter than the last two records. The title-track displays a firm stance on the previously-endeavoured, more streamlined, less abstract Deerhunter sound. Cox’s vocals are perfectly tuned and timed to give the track that extra boost it clearly cries out for. Smart guitar work akin to that on ‘Microcastle’’s first half returns in full flow, and whilst this would easily stand out on last year’s breakthrough release, it does nothing to suggest an element of change. But, avoiding the cliched catchphrase, why change something that appears to be flawless?
P L A N E S WEEKEND TRACK STACKERRR (9th Feb) words: Jamie Milton Most places have their own tips for big things, as well as handy lists of albums to keep an eye on. But there’s always a couple of names that simply come out of nowhere. Last year not many of us expected something spectacular from Justin Vernon or a band formerly known as The Management. This year we’ve already got a couple of bonus acts to add to the list of names slowly establishing themselves into the 2009 hall of fame. This week in Brighton I had a couple of college days off. One day because we had thick snow for the first time since I was born, the other because everything melted and froze. Tuesday was a nice relaxing day but I haven’t posted properly since. So apologies for that. This week might be a little post-less too, because I’ll be venturing around the country on university visits.
————————————————————————————– Here’s some reviews of the week’s best single as well as a couple of names that have sprung on us out of nowhere:
Lotus Plaza – Whiteout
Side-projects can bring out the best in individuals. Lockett Pundt has been surrounded by critical acclaim aimed towards his and Bradford Cox’s band Deerhunter. Last year’s ‘Mircocastle’ saw a departure from the misty, abstract hymns of ‘Cryptograms’ and Pundt’s solo debut sees the musician bravely bridge the gap between the two. Whilst the sound carefully links itself to Deerhunter, there’s a definite step aside. Reminding you slightly of the glories Panda Bear achieved with his own work in 2007 away from Animal Collective, this dark horse might even top ‘Cryptograms’ with a few extra listens. ‘Whiteout’, equally as unidentifiable in lyrics as the other songs, has that little extra summer melody that makes it stand out in a crowd.
Never has one man sounded so unafraid. The Love Language perform as a whole band, with quite a few making contributions. And whilst we don’t enough have enough information to name anything other than the man behind the sound (Stu McLamb),we do know that this act’s self-titled debut will blow you away. Chester, who runs casually obsessive, pointed me in the direction if this lo-fi, spirited record sometime last week. Originally recorded on a 4-track, the exposure of such a recording method is re-captured in a whole band sound. ‘Sparxxx’ is a spiky, funk-guitar led highlight, suitable for summertime mornings and journies when there’s nothing more to do than stare out of your window.
More sophisticated and stylish than ever before, Morrissey’s return to music will be forgotten about in short time once ‘Years Of Refusal’ is replaced by some other enjoyable on your stereo. But the album has its moments, most notably in this lead single. Delicate but bold, it keeps a safe tempo to prevent over-emphasis on a smooth string section as well as the subdued guitar parts you’d come to expect from Mozza’s solo work. “Nobody needs my love/nobody wants to love” is the exiting personal line on an otherwise cheer-inspiring number. Nothing to get too excited about but it’s worth the money, simply on the basis of the superb artwork.
lc! vs. elbow vs. deerhunter vs. kings of leon vs. foals vs. vampire weekend vs. fleet foxes vs. mgmt vs. no age vs. tv on the radio vs. the world words: Jamie Milton
The album releases have come to a halt, the January gig tickets are coming on sale, the talk is emerging about what’s coming next, but first thing’s first, we have to wrap up what happened in 2008 and who in the musical world, emerged victorious of all things. I put this challenge to some forum users a couple of weeks back. The forums ranged in popular bands and most hated bands and we got a decent, fair set of ten acts that’ll challenge for the award that’s been talked about so much, some people have lost their voice-box’s in the chaos of it all – it’s the MFM Act of the Year award. See the sidebar to your right? See the poll? Vote there and vote carefully.
The final ten:
Deerhunter/Atlas Sound Bradford Cox in other words. Some are citing him as some sort of genius after the year he’s had. His puzzling and altogether captivating personality emerges in the variation of his lyrics. Keeping to his roots of smooth, psychadelic chords shimmering in the background as his croaky voice hits the right notes in ‘Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel’, the defining moment of his year was instead in the stunning Deerhunter album ‘Microcastle’, which proved that he was capable of so much more than was first imagined. They’re still emerging from the hills but they’re very much visible for all to see. Elbow Some would say that Guy Garvey’s crew of oldies (lovely oldies at that) arrived here on merit of their Mercury Prize. That wouldn’t be an all to bad thing though. For the prize not to be dubiously handed to some nobody that eventually disappears off the face of the Earth is some feat. And for a band that’ve been around for nearly twenty years, despite releasing their first album in the latest of our centuries, this year has been the highlight of their career. And rightly so, ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ saw them hit their peak.
Fleet Foxes Some Americans seem to be rather puzzled at the rush of popularity that’s headed towards Fleet Foxes in the UK. They’ve been dubbed as dull more times than Rick Astley received a vote for “best act ever” at the MTV EMA’s. But that’s not stopping them from mounting a serious legacy in music, starting with their self-titled dream-boat released halfway through this year. Dimiss it as dull if you will but it’s charmed a fair few, the likes of ‘Sun It Rises’ and ‘He Doesn’t Know Why’ have dismissed critical judgements with a simple swipe. They’ve made quite the impression on us.
Foals These guys were actually nomiated last year on the back of their stunning single releases in the form of ‘Hummer’ and ‘Mathletics’. But since then, those two beauties were left with nowhere to sleep on the debut album. Fortunately for Yannis and co., they had a few more hit singles left in the back of the van, despite “sacking” Dave Sitek as producer for ‘Antidotes’. It could’ve been a reverb-heavy, critic-pleasing gem. But they went back to basics and it pleased the kids. ‘Antidotes’ went as high as #2 in its first week which is pretty staggering. With some cash in their pockets, they seem just about ready to experiment now. Kings of Leon What with all the dodgy reviews being thrown in their direction, it’s easy to be oblivious to the fame that arrived at the hill-billy-come-fashion-victims doors, solely on the back of the massive single ‘Sex on Fire’. Those who weren’t keen on the band before were suddenly interested and those who were obsessed before, warded off slightly. It’s just what happens. But now that they’ve become a dominant feature of popular music, charts, indie discos and everything else, they’re big news. Credit is due.
Los Campesinos! Their inclusion surely relies on the two-albums-released-in-one-year accomplishment. But the triumph in that feat lied in the fact that both albums were as good as eachother and in some people’s opinions, the latter, recorded in a matter of weeks, was even better than the debut. It saw the band moving on from songs that’d almost damaged proceedings with so much hype being diverted towards a couple of specific songs. So in ‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’, the Welsh six-piece provided us with something special and provided themselves with some breathing space. Not only that but they were also one third of the tour of the year (shred yr. face).
MGMT If there was one band that took charge of every house party, every blog post, every festival, it was MGMT. They describe their year as one hell of a journey, where suddenly a band became ‘a band’, having to take things seriously whilst everything happened around them. ‘Oracular Spectacular’ is old news to them but still to this day, remixes of the finest works on the debut are hot stuff. People are still getting over just how much this band did in 12 months. Who knows, if you’re in a small band right now, in a year’s time you might be playing two sets in one day at Glastonbury too. Scary thought.
No Age We mentioned that LC! were one third of the terrific Shred Yr. Face tour but as were No Age in in middle of all that, they were still recovering from the accomplishments that they experienced only weeks prior to that on the back of ‘Nouns’. Some denounce it as a watered-down, inferior version of ‘Weirdo Rippers’, but others hail it as their album of the year. A band akin to Fleet Foxes in the way that opinion’s split to two extremes but with this lot, the general consensus is that they’re pretty darn good.
TV On The Radio If I had to make one prediction on the first day of last January, on who I reckoned would find their way in this poll come November, I’d pick these guys. Sitek, Adebimpe, Malone, have all had their fair share of others things going on in 2008, which warrants their inclusion even more so. But despite all that they’ve set things aside to concentrate on making the finest-produced, most uplifting album of the year. The hype won’t die down until the middle of next year by the looks of things but they truly tore us apart with ‘Dear Science,’, a coming of age that might just be hailed as their peak when we look back on things.
Vampire Weekend It was seemingly the turn of two particular bands to take 2008 by storm when the “new bands” lists started to emerge in January. One of those bands is listed above and have perhaps had a bigger year than these intellectuals but Vampire Weekend haven’t had a moment to sit down and take it all in either. Their self-titled debut was ironically understated by the band themselves, from the polaroid album picture to the general laid-back feeling that emerged in ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ and the rest. All the less, they’ve become a name to remember come next year when their second record is due.
“it’s a photo finish!!!” READERS’ ALBUM OF OCTOBER: Los Campesinos! // Deerhunter
Department of Eagles – In Ear Park 9% (2) Crystal Stilts – Alight of Night 14% (3) Jeremy Warmsley – How We Became 9% (2) Deerhunter – Microcastle 33% (7) Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed 33 % (7)
If this is any indication of how tight the act of the year race is gonna be, then I’m going to have to take cover under my spinny chair because it might just get a tad competitive. The polls are suggesting that the white evangelicals will be turning up in their masses to vote for Deerhunter but expect the liberal lattés to be making it tight again with their love for Los Campesinos! Exit polls are due in December, but some areas will be too close to call… Oh dear, election’s over Jamie, clear your head!
All mp3s posted on Music Fan's Mic are posted after gaining the relevant permission.
Jamie Milton began Music Fan's Mic in 2006 as a means of publishing and collecting his reviews for other publications. Since then both Milton and Gareth O'Malley are co-running the blog and posting the best new music on a regular basis.
Boom-box-in':
Yeasayer - Odd Blood LP
Final Fantasy Heartland LP
Beach House - Teen Dream LP
These New Puritans - We Want War
Gigi - The Old Graveyard
jj - The xx Intro
Toro Y Moi - Causers of This LP
Liars - Sisterworld LP
Vampire Weekend - White Sky
Los Campesinos! - In Medias Res
Difficult to ignore the MGMT comparisons – the Brooklyn five-piece embrace last year’s sound of the summer and attempt to give it one last push. It doesn’t yet sound dated, but nor does it sound nearly as imaginative and groundbreaking as ‘Oracular Spectacular’. There are still, however, just a small pick of songs that truly take you a-back: ‘Invisible Place’ and ‘Headdress’ most notably.
More ‘Weird Era Cont.’ than ‘Microcastle’, Bradford Cox’s imagination runs a-mock once more, immersing itself in more energy than perhaps ever before, resulting in an even more accessible Deerhunter than the band exposed on the last record. This is exemplfied in the streamlined, Strokes-esque ‘Disappearing Ink’, a gorgeously simple pop song if the band ever wrote one.
J Mascis and his fellow founding fathers prove that experience counts, even after a prolonged hiatus. Someway beyond…erm, ‘Beyond’, their last record released in 2007, the maintain the kick and the edge that somehow didn’t flee their sound since the 80’s, in fact they maintain pretty much everything, but it’s difficult not to bow down in respect. Such progression from the uninspired releases of the late 90’s, you get the sense they’re back for good.
Simplified indie guitars and basic songwriting somehow become all the more intelligent under the brilliant album title and the disturbingly dark themes emerging at times from lyrics. Carrying the swagger and the charm of The Wave Pictures’, this “breakthrough” debut, within a few listens, is one prolonged, aggressive but intelligent chant of triumph.
There’s more to ‘Hands’ than just the pathetically direct and turgid new single of Victoria Hesketh’s, ‘New In Town’. Heavy synthetics and dreamlike atmospherics displayed in aforementioned stinker are replenished and polished, transferred into something more enjoyable, particularly through the experimental, provocative moments of ‘Meddle’ and ‘Stuck On Repeat’. This artist has ideas, but through the bandwagon-jump to the electro sound, she sounds restricted, only occasionally free to roam within her own comfort zone.
It’s depressingly difficult to decipher whether ‘Far’ is a step up from ‘Begin To Hope’, or a defeatist step down. Depressing, because Spektor made something mainstream and pop in her last record, on ‘Far’ she continues this to some extent, but whilst not producing anything as instantaneous and lovable as ‘Samson’, she’s also nowhere near her experimental best as of ‘Soviet Kitsch’. It’s directly in between, coming across as indecisive, rushed even.
Spencer Krug, as per usual, enjoys the freedom to roam and express, as he did on this side-project’s previous two records. Whilst ‘Dragonslayer’ is devoid of the uplifting, overwhelming individual triumphs such as those on ‘Random Spirit Lover’, he’s removed the filler of that record and emerged with a piece more consistent and bold instead of something regulated and tied up.
The elaborate range of ideas arranged in debut ‘Workout Holiday’ have quickly followed up by something equally diverse in thought and movement. On ‘Fits’, whilst occasionally representing the basking hot Texas sound, cover the Spanish culture in ‘El Hard Attack DCWYW’, go warm, smooth and acoustic on ‘Regina Holding Hands’ and go gung-ho with relenteless, energised lo-fi rock ‘Radio Mild How Can You Stand It’. As of previous, they still haven’t mastered making a concerted, coherent record but you get the gist, that was never the plan.
MFM @ HYPEM
