ALBUM REVIEW: Oneohtrix Point Never- R Plus Seven
“Avant Garde Electronica”. That sounds terrible right? Pretentious? Confusing? Hard to explain? No explanation at all? Electronic music that caters to the mind over the body has always kind of left me cold. It might be interesting or disorienting, but there’s nothing enjoyable or really emotional about it. Just some weird bloops and bleeps that may or may not mean something. I used to throw Oneohtrix Point Never in this category. Replica, their often acclaimed 2011 album, had all of these problems. It was drowned in nostalgia and lost itself in its formless nature. It had hazy production and songs that had ideas and tropes drag on until they were absolutely dead. R Plus Seven should have gone down the same path. With its Midi board aesthetic and some of its build-up media (The video for Problem Areas, which I linked below, has several light pastels and even a VHS copy of The Exorcist), it should have felt tired. But R Plus Seven takes a 180, milking its ideas to their fullest potential without wearing them off.
Instead of the sweaty and trudging sound of Replica, R Plus Seven goes for a strange combination of ethereal atmosphere and loud disorientating synthesizers. There are several songs that have loud noodling synthesizers melt into organ like drones. A lot of these songs almost follow a Fuck Buttons pattern (but luckily forgo the length…). Each song has an intensity behind it that drives the song to a place, a reason. Songs mesh vibrant ambient recordings of nature with harsh, electronic synths. The contrast throughout this album makes the sound sway in a way that keeps interest and doesn’t muddle the overarching theme.
The more energetic parts sound jubilant and vicious at the same time, ripping Replica’s weird lack of confidence apart. Only a few seconds into Americans, some weird synthesizer feedback jumps into the song and takes control for only a fleeting moment. Or, Lopatin will begin a song with an absolutely vicious or infectious synth line or theme that runs throughout an entire song, carrying emotions of fear and beauty simultaneously. Formless songs will suddenly gain weird vocally modulated parts, and sometimes the electronics melt into atmospheric music.
A lot of emotions come about throughout R Plus Seven, which is why I think it is such an effective listen. There are ambient moments on nearly every song that are some of the most stunning things I’ve heard this year. The songs transport you to a different environment completely, taking you on an adventure. With its decidedly Pacific and African styles, the transportation is vivid and invigorating. This is not a record to be caught up with individual songs. Sitting through the entirety of the project, swimming through the weird breakdowns and the moments of pure ethereal beauty, creates an emotional effect that is incredibly profound.
R Plus Seven does a great job at exploring both the old and new simultaneously. There are some nostalgic elements here that are similar to what was tried on Replica. The 90s midi synths transport the listener backwards, while many of the warm vocal samples on tracks like Inside World harken back to a reverence of old media (Something that Replica did kind of nail correctly). But at the same time, there’s a lot of strangeness around too. Xylophones and other unorthodox percussion create a feeling of uncertainty and exploration in the sound. Plus the choppy and without-warning style of the interpolation of synths creates a peculiar feeling as well.
It’s a truly stunning album, and it’s one that will be rewarding for those who put the most in. There are moments that feel a bit undercooked or underdeveloped. Sometimes synths cut in too early and nonsensically, and other times there are a few song structures that don’t make much sense. But It does ultimately pay off at several times. Inside World’s use of vox synths and vocal samples is absolutely haunting and mesmerizing, while the synth line that drives Zebra entangles the listener in a cloud of mesmerizing sound. And the final song, Chrome County, is one of the most anthemic and chilling electronic pieces I’ve ever heard. Replica got kind of close to nailing nostalgia and our confusing relationship to it versus the unknown, but R Plus Seven absolutely nails it.
Summary: R Plus Seven overcomes the shortcomings of Replica with some fantastic sonic ideas, cool experimentation, and a well grounded sense of theme and emotion that, shockingly, creates one of the better experimental electronic records in recent memory.
Choice Cuts: Boring Angel, Zebra, Chrome Country
Leftovers: He She
A-
Watch the video for Problem Areas below. R Plus Seven is out Tuesday (10/1) on Warp.
ALBUM REVIEW: Atoms For Peace- AMOK
The other week, I decided it would be a good day to revisit Radiohead’s divisive The King of Limbs. Since it’s been out, I’ve considered it to be the worst Radiohead album. I mean, most people would argue that Pablo Honey is their worst, but at least that album had Creep and Blow Out, and at least sounded full of potential (Which, thank god, was fully realized). On The King of Limbs, everything is pretty and ominous, but it is a trudge. It was basically the sonic equivalent of watching paint dry. Save the alright Lotus Flower, there was something that just felt off. And it’s not like the songs themselves were bad. The From the Basement session they did was absolutely stunning. However, when all this stuff was recorded, there’s just a lack of passion…almost a lack of humanity.
That’s the same problem I got from this new effort from this “Spin-off” super group. Atoms For Peace has Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Joey Waronker (who has worked with Beck and R.E.M.), and Mauro Refosco (No clue). The album sounds heavily electronic, spacious, and eerie. It often feels like a balancing act on a tight rope. There’s never any sense of comfort, and there are moments where it seems like it’s going to fall off. Atoms For Peace kind of pull off the balancing act, but they almost hit the ground hard many times.
There are moments that are sonically great. Default is a song that’s grown on me quite a bit. It’s complex, and it’s full of electronic clicks and ominous bass that really make it stick out. But then there’s a lot where things get either monotonous or ugly. The repeated synths on Ingenue are awkward, and Yorke’s singing on the song feels more weak and wimpy than soft and sensitive.
The album’s incredibly sparse, with a whole lot of open space. There are parts where it begins to fill, but most of the time it feels compressed. That gives a lot of the clicks and synths little wiggle room, which makes a lot of things jut kind of…not work. Synths often overwhelm nearly everything else in the mix, save Yorke’s whispers. While his voice is weak, it’s still louder than nearly everything else. While it’s nice to hear Yorke’s whisper every once in a while, there’s no change dynamically at all during all of his vocals. Even the more intense moments maintain an uncomfortable quiet.
Also, there aren’t any songs that really stick out. Sure, there are some albums that have a bunch of songs with equal quality. But this album’s consistent level of quality is relatively mediocre. None of the songs bring much to the table, and after a while each song sounds the same. The first half of the album is somewhat good, but the second half becomes a test of endurance. The songs are complex, but after a while you begin to see the patterns, and the wonder in that complexity begins to wane.
This album really just feels OK. The sonic ideas are somewhat interesting (if inconsistent), but after a while they just get monotonous. Songs just repeat the same patterns. The King of Limbs was a bit monotonous, but at least it kind of felt like the songs grew as they went along. Here, the plant dies in the first two minutes, and then it’s extended for two more verses of the same thing.
Other than Yorke and Producer Godrich, you can’t hear a lot of the efforts of the other band mates. The percussion is nice, but rarely heard. And I could only hear Flea on two or three songs. It really just feels like a Yorke solo album. One that’s really underwhelming.
However, the album isn’t unlistenable. Most of it is pleasant, and there isn’t much that’s terribly offensive. It’s just boring. All of these guys (Save Refosco, who I’ve never heard of before) have done better work before, and this album underwhelms when towered over by all the other projects that proceeded it.
Summary: It sounds nice enough, but Amok suffers from monotony and weak production.
Choice Cuts: Default
2.5/5
Stream Default and Judge Jury and Executioner below. AMOK is out Tuesday (3/26) on XL Recordings.
ALBUM REVEIW: Crystal Castles- (III)
I consider Crystal Castles to be a bit of an acquired taste. One that’s hard to acquire. Well, at least it used to be hard to acquire.
In case you’re unaware, Crystal Castles are an experimental electronic noisy synth group from Toronto. (III) is their third album (Duh) following two albums I didn’t particularly care for. Much of their previous music was chock full of sharp sounding synths and a lot of lead singer Alice Glass shrieking over it. There wasn’t a whole lot of diverse pace on either album. The only think I can say I’ve actually liked from the group so far was their single Not In Love with The Cure’s Robert Smith.
However, I feel that (III) manages to be a slight (if not entirely significant) change for the group. Within the first 2 tracks you can also feel some change in the vocal delivery and synths. The production has been muddied a bit. While normally that’s a bad thing, it works well here, since it prevents a lot of the synth work from being painfully overwhelming. Glass also holds back her vocals on Kerosene, which makes the dubby track a very pleasant change from the intense album opener (Which, while intense, is still far more listenable than their earlier work).
In fact, Glass’ vocals throughout the album have left me incredibly surprised. In the past, her shout-singing style has been overused and overbearing. Here, we either get more mid-range vocals, or the production shrouds the shouting. For example, Wrath of God muffles the screams under the more impressive synth work. The best part of using her voice like this is that it adds a ghostly accent to the music. It works much better than the shattered tracks that their first two self titled albums were inundated with.
The memorable tracks here (Particularly the first 3) manage to be memorable unironically. I remember Baptism from their 2nd effort, but I only remember it for the atrocious vocals and poor (almost lo-fi) production. The music here (Like on Affection) is full of infectious grooves and gorgeous crescendos. A lot if it ebbs and flows with a strange and ghastly beauty.
While some may not like the cleaned up production, I think it is a huge improvement. On their first two albums, the synths often sounded sharp against the rest of the music. They were loud and almost too clear. When they are muffled a tiny bit, there is a clear improvement.
There are still some tracks where they do seem to be retreading old ground. The synths on Pale Flesh represent everything I didn’t like about their earlier stuff. I also wish that there was a bit more diversity in the track listing. I mean, every track seems to have about the same pace. It could use some slower ballads or faster bangers. Also, while I like how they’ve gone for a slightly more accessible sound, I would have liked to seen a bit more experimentation when it comes to song structure. Most songs went along the same lines or used ideas that sounded fine, but could have easily been found on a Depeche Mode album. But not necessarily to the degree of their older stuff (The one experiment that was on here, Insulin, fell a bit flat)
While I disliked their previous two albums, this album changed my mind of the group. There are a lot of solid synth tracks on here. They’ve finally matched their dark aesthetic with a nice sound to match. Hopefully they’ll keep on in this direction
Summary: Even though it still has quite a few issues, (III) manages to improve upon Crystal Castles’ weak freshman and sophomore efforts, using more accessible songs, more suiting production, and some calmer instruments/vocals.
Choice Cuts: Plague, Kerosene, Wrath of God, Child I Will Hurt You
3/5
Stream Plague and Wrath of God below. (III) is out now on Casablanca
Vantage Point Music 