Mount Kimbie
Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
Rating: Grrrr
London duo Mount Kimbie, Kai Campos and Dom Maker, emerged in the crowded UK bass music scene and were immediately lumped into the "post-dubstep" genre which actually isn't really a genre but more of a catch-all for artists that can't neatly be filed under categories like dubstep, funky, garage, or two-step. As the UK bass scene continued to morph, fracture, and evolve, the term post-dubstep lost any true meaning, if it had any to begin with in the first place. Mount Kimbie's first record Crooks and Lovers was an interesting, eclectic mix of two-step, IDM, and pastoral electronica that merged and shifted multiple genres into something distinctly their own. With their second record, they have moved on from mostly instrumentals to more vocal driven tracks, a la James Blake. This is not to say they have foregone any instrumentals or their eclectic music experimentation, but merely they have added a new, fascinating sense of direction and purpose with their music.
Relying on Campos' wistful vocals and two key collaborations with King Krule, Mount Kimbie move closer to more traditional pop structures, without truly giving up what makes them Mount Kimbie. There are still washes of woozy organs and gauzy keyboards and samples throughout the record. And the record itself, while produced completely via computer has a more organic and open sound. The feeling is instantaneous on opener "Home Recording" with droning organs and horn samples feeding off a shuffling beat and sense of loneliness conjured by Campos' voice.
This leads into the first amazing collaboration with King Krule, "You Took Your Time," which adds a needed air of pathos and dark poetry to their sound. His deep growl of a voice is forceful and haunting, urging the track on to darker and heavier levels.
"Meter, Pale, Tone," the second collaboration with King Krule, while not as immediately transfixing, has a subtler charm to it. Burbling electronics playfully work around slippery basslines and almost tribal percussion. King Krule's voice floats more in the mix this go around than the earlier track, which is an interesting experience considering how notable his voice usually stands out.
Campos' voice is a far less distinctive instrument, however, it is not without its charms. "Made To Stray" features an almost mantra-like vocal turn from Campos as a blocky beat and weird strains of different electronic sounds bump and rub up against one another,
while the sinister, droning "Blood and Form" has Campos speak-singing his words while the track takes odd turns here and there into noir territory.
Despite these more vocal-centric tracks, Mount Kimbie still allow several tracks to show off their production brilliance. "So Many Times, So Many Ways" grows from organ drones and lush percussion into a dense mix of electronics and sweeping synth strings,
"Slow" begins with an almost industrial feel before a mid-song change of direction into a lighter, funkier territory,
while closing track "Fall Out" blends tropical percussion, dub-influenced bass lines, and echoing, ambient synths.
There are only a couple of tracks on the record that don't work so well in the flow of the record. "Break Well" leans almost towards ambient wallpaper in the first half, before shifting into an incongruous back half section that feels very divorced from the track itself. "Sullen Ground" also plods and meanders over airy percussion and simple keyboard lines, Campos' vocals lightly dropped in and out of the mix. And "Lie Near" also leans too heavily on atmosphere without truly going anywhere. But in the grand scheme of things, these tracks are mere blips within the context of the rest of the tracks.
Cold Spring Fault Less Youth is a big leap forward for Mount Kimbie, echoing their initial sound while boldly striking out in new directions. Their experiments with more traditional songwriting and singing on the record appears to have given them a more focused purpose and has given us one of the standout electronic records of the year.
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.
