So I’m trying to figure out which album to review. I have a couple choices, so I listen to the first one on the list, “Future Breeds” by Hot Hot Heat. And I like it. The energy of it. I think, yeah, this. But then, a few songs in, I’m gone. I’m at once in the music and then totally out of it. It just sort of loses me. Or maybe I lose it. Either way, we’ve stopped communicating. So, ok, I think, I’ll listen to the next one down, LP4, from Ratatat. Electronic, samples. Computer mastery. I’m into it. It’s textured, interesting. Good. But here again, I’m out. One song runs into the other. Something about the elements all sounds the same. And it’s like that with both. And I listen to them both again and am no closer to any sort of communion with either album.
Here’s the thing, though. This all means nothing. I like these albums. There’s a lot going on here. There is detail and certain influence and I appreciate that. There’s not even a “but” here. I’m just going to cede to the fact that I think sometimes you need to have a history with things, whether it be art or music or literature, in order to really appreciate them, and, certainly, to assess them properly. And I think this is the case here. I can say I think both these albums are good. There is a lot to them. LP4, even now, is growing on me. I would suggest you take a listen. If you’ve followed either of these bands, I think you’ll like what they’ve done. Both seem true. And that is definitely something.
-Serena Hedison
Both albums will be release June 8, 2010 on Dangerbird Records and XL respectively
Review: Shannon Harris Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism
Shannon Harris Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism (Urbanicity Recordings) Release date: August 21
To get a sense of Shannon Harris¹s imaginative new album, you might look no further than its name: Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism, although, actually, I don¹t think he really means truism (loosely defined as a fact so obvious it¹s pointless to mention) as these tracks are indeed quite worth the mention. But the point is, yes, this is just that: a study of the city or, more precisely, its people and movement and rhythms. Employing more guest recordings than I can list here, Harris guides us through the late-night siren wails of the cities you know, across tin-drummed Caribbean beaches and onto the deep red dirt of an African road, all the while seamlessly weaving one style into another to create a sort of continuous acoustic mantra. Everything is familiar and haunting and evocative of something you somehow know. And then, most beautifully, I think, comes ³Spirits of the Black Experience,² which, were I a choreographer, I would attempt to stage, so thoroughly does it embody the echo of conflict and beauty, with nearly dissonant notes pushing up against an ever-rising rhythm. Harris is an artist whose musical awareness reaches so far across cultural lines it gives him full play with all of them, resulting in an album full of sound and feeling and signifying everything.
-Serena Hedison
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