Cerulean

Baths
Cerulean
Rating: Grrrr

Will Wiesenfeld, a.k.a. Baths, is one of the new breed of electronic artists/producers/remixers from the Los Angeles area like Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing that defy categorization, flowing seamlessly through glitch-hop, chillwave, dubstep, or any number of different permutations of current electronic music. What is defining them is a restless nature, never staying too long in one genre and never settling into a niche; and also amazingly technical and physical live shows, manipulating and forming their pieces on the fly with tons of signal pads and software programs.

While Flying Lotus mainly focuses on wordless soundscapes, Baths also integrates words into the mix, either through his own lyrics or carefully chosen samples, to create his own style of lovesongs. From the trippy, sample laden "Maximalist"



the chopped, Anticon style rapping of "Lovely Bloodflow"



or the faded beerhall beauty of "You're My Excuse To Travel"



I have no idea if Baths is gay or not, but there definitely seems to be a gay-undercurrent flowing underneath this exquisite release. For example, the song "♥" appears to be about a man or woman who realizes they are in love with someone of the same gender and understands they can never go back to an existence denying their true nature:

"Met in the night like it was wrong
Laugh at the life left now that we're gone
I won't go back
I won't go back
I love you too much"



But what is brilliant about Baths, is that for the most part his songs don't pinpoint a feeling or explanation but are universal; the listener is free to form their own opinions and create their own experience. However, when he wants to make a point he does so beautifully and eloquently. In "Plea" the song is sung to a male character and seems to subtly touch on gay marriage and the need for everyone to have their relationships validated.

"Love, this is a dark world
And I've lost focus
Please tell me you need me

Boy, you are every color
How am I visible
Please tell me you need me

You can taste your future
But I've lost focus
Please tell me you need me

Love, you know I've given up
Cause we're still not valid
Please tell me you need me"



The first section of the album is practically perfect in strength of compositions and in pacing. If he could have kept it all the way through the end, it would have easily have been a classic cd in the vein of Entroducing or Los Angeles, however, the cd falls apart slightly towards the end with noisy experimentations like "Hall" and "Indoorsy" but it is a small quibble with a cd as strong as this one. And it bears to mention that Baths is merely 21 years old, and Cerulean easily shows that he is capable of pulling one off.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not good; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.