Album Review: Cooly G - Playin Me

Cooly G
Playin Me
Review: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Vocalist and producer Cooly G (Merrisa Campbell) made her mark a few years ago as a rising star in the UK funky scene, but has since evolved into a multi-faceted producer, imbuing her debut for the Hyperdub label with a cross-genre mashup of funky, grime, 2-step, techno, and R&B. The album has a overall dubby feel, hearkening back to neo-soul albums from Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, and Sade, but with a more modern/electronic sheen. While not explicitly noted as such, Playin Me feels like a breakup album, full of melancholic moments, whispered vocals, incriminations, doubts, and fears. Just when you think a happy moment appears, the hurt appears again to plunge back down into the darkness.

Beginning with the shifting, retro-like "He Said I Said," sputtering drum programs and looped guitars echo in and out of the mix setting the tone for the record, Cooly G haunted by memories of her lover.



"Come Into My Room" merges dusky vocals, piano, and skying electronics, showing a letting down of her guard, wanting to experience love again.



"Good Times" descends again into a bleak, dark drone of low synth pulses over a muted 2-step beat, sling-shotting into the skittering beats and come-ons of "Sunshine," a tempered take on the make-out jam. But throughout, there is always that spectre of the love gone bad; never allowing for any true happiness. Title track "Playin Me" bounces tattered beats and rim shots over clipped vocal samples.



Although Playin Me is not a traditional pop record in the normal sense, there is a nod to something more mainstream in Cooly G's cover of Coldplay's "Trouble," which fits in perfectly with the mood of the album, with its lyrics of being in "a spiderweb/and I'm caught in the middle." The original's lovely melancholy transferring well into a clattering 2-step beat. But the remainder of the record has a tense, foreboding feel to it, full of dense drum programming and icy keyboards. The hallucinatory opening of "Is It Gone" giving way to a cacophony of stuttering drum programs. "What Airtime" blasting chilly waves of frosty synths over almost chanted vocals. These moments are only broken up occasionally, as with the clonky drums and martial air of "It's Serious."



Or with final track "Up In My Head" providing a respite from the tension with a bed of warm synths over a soft, feminine vocal from Cooly G.



Playin Me is a solid debut from Cooly G that highlights her obvious producer chops while only suffering slightly from some of the tracks sounding tonally similar. A little more variation would have made a lot of these tracks stand out more. But is a minor quibble about an artist with a good future ahead of her.

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.

Burial: Kindred EP - Review

Burial
Kindred EP
Rating: Woof Daddy

Though we know a little more about 2-step master Burial, aka Will Bevan, since the release of his landmark album Untrue, he has not been quick to capitalize on his fame and influence by releasing a ton of music. We've only gotten a couple of collaborations with Four Tet and Thom Yorke, and last year's stunning Street Halo EP. And those releases have stuck fairly uniformly with the Burial aesthetic, with minor variations that still seem to evoke the typical Burial sound while still advancing his sound. Scheduled to be released last year, but held up by production issues, Kindred is the latest teaser from Burial. While not a full album of material, indeed, Burial seems less than in a hurry to come out with another full length, Kindred's three tracks, which are longer and denser, take up almost 30 minutes of run time, and, in fact, show a new side to his sound, while still retaining the "Burial" trademarks. While pitch-shifted vocal samples still play a role in Burial's world, the are not the focus here, simply becoming another element in the mix. What is most striking about these tracks, aside from their length (two tracks edge the 12 minutes mark while one is almost 8 minutes), is the density and pure weight of what is going on. Burial's previous work was all about atmosphere, while here, the tracks become all about texture.

Lead and title track "Kindred" is the most "Burial" sounding of the three, retaining the trademark kick and block drum sound, but instead of it being in the front of the mix, it is pushed far in the back, letting the ominously brutal bass line take over, haunting wafts of choral synths hovering in the distance, the vocal sample insistent and choked up. Over the 11+ minutes, Burial brings in an almost symphonic attention to detail and pacing. In fact, the three tracks together almost make up a symphony in their pacing and structure. "Kindred" begins in standard Burial style with angelic synths and blocky beats before the grime and ash take over, the buzzing bass line smearing its gloom over the beats. There is a muscularness here that has been heretofore unseen, instead of feeling like a passive listener, traveling silently through urban streets, you feel like your feet are on the pavement, the danger around you, the clipped vocal samples are either the passers-by around you or the voices in your head. Again, Burial is a master at letting pauses and silences speak volumes. The final movement of the track breaks through the grime and darkness, a lighter synth pattern emerges alongside a more ethereal vocal sample.



Probably most shocking on Kindred is Burial moving on from his trademarked beat plan. Second track "Loner" is akin to Dylan going electric when Bevan moves the track up to 130 BPM. There is a bit of a fake out at first, with the opening bars featuring an almost Eno-esque ambient quality, before Bevan shoves an almost house beat in the mix. The track is quite subtle. Echoing vocal samples, which recall some of the vocals from This Mortal Coil's first record, burst in an out of a dense fog of atmospheric effects, arpeggiated synths rising and falling against a throbbing bass pulse. The drums dropping out occasionally, letting the other layers swirl around until jacking the beats back up again. It is the kind of track that definitely "sounds" like Burial but is also completely unlike him.



But nothing quite prepares you for the tour de force that is the final track, "Ashtray Wasp." Over a brilliant 11:30 minute plus run time, the track takes the listener on a chaotic journey, from fear, danger and loneliness, to a final sense of calm. He trades his blocky beats for a steam pulse with the vocal samples striking a gorgeous chord over the swirling mass of synths. The mid section of the track getting more agitated, the samples becoming more clipped and ambiguous, with Burial even drawing attention back to his work on Untrue with what sounds like a synth sample from that epic work, until the track rights itself again back into the swirling mist. Just when you think the track will continue in slight variations on this theme, the track basically drops out completely and morphs into a delicate piano based number with overlying clipped vocal samples that keep the track askew and haunting. What begins as a trip through hell becomes an arrival in bliss.



Kindred is an amazing continuation of the art that Burial makes. Instead of minute changes, he is going full out with pushing his sound to greater and more deeper meaning. These three tracks stay with you for hours, their pulse and haunting melodies lingering in the blood stream. In the 24 hours I have been listening to this record, my hand keeps reaching back to press repeat. Once these tracks have been ingrained in your body, there is no way to resist their pull.

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 peaks 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.

The 2 Bears: Be Strong - Album Review

The 2 Bears
Be Strong
Rating: Grrrr

The 2 Bears, the side project of Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Raf Rundell, is an homage to both gay subculture (Goddard and Rundell, who are both straight, fit the "bear" description) and to the classic house music that has influenced and inspired them. Be Strong is a strong collection of house and two-step anthems that sometimes oversteps its bounds into kitsch territory, but otherwise holds its own among its peers owing to its creators' obvious affection for their influences. Through its 12 tracks, the album takes stops in Chicago, Detroit, and the Caribbean, and is a statement about the healing/loving/positive nature of dance music. But first and foremost it is a fun, frisky record. While still a side project, this is no off-the-cuff throwaway. You can feel the tenderness and affection put into each track.

The album begins with a bit of a bait and switch, with the sunny, Caribbean rhythms of "The Birds & The Bees," floating under a bed of xylophones, horns, and chirpy electronics. Its slow build getting more and more insistent as the track progresses. The subtlety of the track becomes a bit of head scratcher once it fades into the brilliant triad of "Be Strong," "Bear Hug," and "Work." "Be Strong," about the healing power of music, is a glorious mash of pounding drums and whirring synths, and Goddard's deadpan baritone playing against Rundell's deep bass.



And yes, "Bear Hug" has some of the silliest lyrics I have heard in awhile, but it's such a infectious slab of fun it is easy to overlook and just give into the beat.



"Work" uses old school house piano rolls, disco percussion, and rising strings, all coming to a head with a Detroit techno breakdown at the end.



Be Strong could have been just one house track after another, bleeding into each other, and having no real pacing or variety, however, Goddard and Rundell are smart enough to structure the album more like a pop record, allowing for palate cleansers between the house bangers, like the breezy Soul II Soul-esque track "Warm & Easy," acoustic guitar driven "Time In Mind," and the reggae tinged 2-step of "Heart of the Congos."



But of course, the focus of the album is the dance floor, and it is virtually impossible to stop yourself from bobbing your head, shaking your ass, or tapping your feet to these tracks. From the driving house of "Get Together,"



horn punctuated disco fury of "Ghosts & Zombies,"



and the throbbing pulse of "Take A Look Around," Be Strong gets the blood pumping and heart rate thumping.



Be Strong just made me smile; its party-vibe is too infectious not to. You can tell Goddard and Rundell had a blast making these tracks, and the love and care given to them is very evident. Sometimes an album doesn't have to be profound or genre-busting, it can just be a well-constructed set of songs that does what it sets out to do. Be Strong does this in spades.

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 peaks 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.