Blackbird Blackbird
Boracay Planet
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It
San Francisco based pop musician Mikey Maramag, operating under the moniker Blackbird Blackbird, infuses his pop confections with elements of electronica, tropicalia, chillwave, and Balearic pop. While at first the record drifts along on a seemingly unsubstantial air, multiple listens reveal a surprisingly subtle ear for melody and atmosphere. In fact, Maramag's catchy songs have already been used in commercials. Chevy is using opening track "It's A War" in its new add campaign. Although the track has a delicate surface, once the main section of the song begins there is a striking muscularity to the guitars, which are buoyed by bouncy drum programming, stark piano chords, and squeltchy synths.
Most of the tracks start off simply, almost like demos, before all the elements gather and combine into something stunning. "Happy With You" jumps off with simple guitars lines, while synth strings wash over delicate drum programming. The guitar lines unfold into more intricate patterns while the track takes off into the stratosphere.
The instrumental "Tear" features a more insistent dance beat, with fuzzed out guitars, and tropically inflected keyboards.
I love the driving rhythms of "Keep It Up" with its ringing guitars, deep synth bass, and breathy vocals.
"All" begins with a more melancholy sound to it, with mourning guitars over a thumping beat before a slight change midway when the synths take over, adding a swirling, tropicalia feel to the track.
The rest of the EP is made up of two remixes, neither of which really add much to or detract to the originals. A nice way to fill up an introductory release. Based on Boracay Planet, it is difficult to see how a full length will go, as he sticks to a slightly limited palate, but it shows promise as to his songwriting capabilities. He is definitely one to watch out for in the future.
Rating Scale:
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 releases of the year.
Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.
Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.
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.
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