record mini-updates
Espers - Espers II

Did I review this one before? I don't care to dig through my old blog post right now... stuck at work, running slow data pulls and waiting for someone else to finish their part in a certain project so I can get started on mine....

Anyway, Espers. Their first record was... I guess I don't really remember it well anyway, so it's probably pretty similar to this one. How so, you ask? It's... really...forgettable. Lush acoustic-electric arrangements, beautiful vocals, etc., and the complete absence of anything remotely musically compelling.

Well, maybe there's a thing or two on one of those tracks in the middle of the album. But I had a realization that this record as a whole was so bland that it was boring me even when I was busy with other things, just listening to it in the background - and that's something most mediocre musicians never even accomplish.

If you like folky, "pastoral" music such as this with some varied instrumentation, I'd recommend Cyann & Ben instead. Their album Spring from 2003 kind of lags in spots, but overall is pretty solid.


His Name Is Alive - Detrola

I guess this band's been around for some time - 10 years or something, which is a long time to be writing music, I think - you have to be exceptional to keep coming up with good new stuff. So most bands that succeed at that tend to be fairly well-known.

This band is not one of them.

The album suffers from a severe case of half-assed songwriting. Production can't save you from a lack of inspiration, and anyone listening can feel how little effort was put into it...


Enough band-bashing for now. I actually do like (some) music:

Lady Sovereign - Vertically Challenged EP

When I'm out in my car, I like to listen to rap music. Something with a good beat, preferably with good flow on top of it - and Lady Sov fits the bill perfectly. Simply put, this shit is bangin'. Sov's doing the UK grime thing(recently signed to Rocafella, I hear) is getting huge buzz, but no full-length yet. So this is basically a bunch of singles and a couple of remixes thrown in (I'm not counting "ch ching(cheque 1-2 remix)" as one, since it's the only version I've heard). While the remixes lack the fantastic production of the originals, they do succeed in significantly changing the feel of the tracks. The Random (Menta Remix) throws in more of a standard east coast beat, and features Riko rapping over a phone (unintelligible at times), apparently from jail. Even if it's just a gimmick it actually works well on the track.

The "Shhh..." remix features a basic 4/4 club beat, which I find boring compared to the rest of the production here. Likewise the Fiddle With The Volume remix drops an M.I.A/grime-sounding afrobeat ...which in my opinion M.I.A. was the only artist to actually do well.

Overall - it's just an EP, and I'm not expecting it to be coherent or 'flow', particularly with remixes on it - so the weak points are definitely forgivable. I'd say this is worth buying just for Random and Ch Ching, and the original of Fiddle With The Volume's pretty good too.


More later...
- posted by vcmc @  6/01/2006 03:39:00 PM