Album Review: Ryan Hemsworth - Guilt Trips

Ryan Hemsworth
Guilt Trips
Rating: Grrrr

Mostly known for his forays into downtempo R&B and cloud-rap territory, Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth releases his album Guilt Trips, which surprisingly hits on multiple styles and genres, yet feels cohesive and retains Hemsworth's personality and charm. In this age of being exposed to and able to listen to so many different types of music it is remarkable to me that anyone's records these days don't have a schizophrenic quality to them. But this plethora of music makes it so that many producers are always challenged and inspired by what they hear, and in more gifted hands are able to pull from and edit things down to their own ends. Guilt Trips borrows the best parts of chillwave, trap, Dirty South beats, future R&B, cloud rap, and many other styles and makes for a fascinating listen.

Guilt Trips is very much built and structured for headphones and late night listens and not the dance floor, aligning itself more with indie electronica, feeling like a drive through dark and cold streets, the neon and glitter of the city washing over you as you head to your final destination. Beginning with the soft thump of "Small + Lost," featuring the gorgeous vocals of Sinead Harnett over snippets of vocal samples, Guilt Trips eases itself gracefully onto its sumptuous path.



Throughout the record, Hemsworth expertly switches back and forth between vocal led tracks and instrumentals. From the Frou Frou sampling "One For Me," which pairs R&B singer Tinashe's breathy vocals over fresh R&B beats, sounding like one of Brandy's trademarked ballads;



indietronic collaboration with Baths "Still Cold" which pairs Will Wiesenfeld's left-field croon with sparkly Postal Service-esque keyboards, intoning strange lyrics like "it’s almost funny that you’re still so cold / what are you, Taylor Swift?;” while on closing track "Day/Night/Sleep System," Hemsworth pairs the guttural raps of Haleek Maul with the mumble raps of Kitty, looking back towards his cloud rap roots.



But the main focus on this record are Hemsworth's pristine and multi-layered productions. "Weird Life" starts out as cotton candy 80s pop music before erupting into a glossy trap inspired mix of bright synth washes and belltone melodies;



"Ryan Must Be Destroyed" builds from a lonely, inward looking track into a maximalist tour de force of skittering rhythms and meaty synths;



while "Happiness & Deams Forever" showcases Hemsworth's furious drum programming and sense of scale and drama, drawn into balance with the almost creepy vocal sample saying "please don't trust me."

Guilt Trips is a very brisk listen but one that rewards multiple listens. At first, it breezed by pleasantly without really making a lasting impression with me. Over the course of several different listens it began to take shape, making its presence known. While Ryan is still trying to find his ultimate voice, Guilt Trips makes the case that he might be doing fine with what he is doing right now.

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.

Album Review: Alison Moyet - the minutes

Alison Moyet
the minutes
Rating: Grrrr

I am always dubious when a longtime artist returns with an album that borrows liberally from current trends in electronic music, as if it is last stab at relevance and market share. Of course, it is easy to forget that Alison Moyet began her career as half of the electronic duo Yaz, and has always dabbled with electronic music on her solo albums. the minutes, her first record since 2007's The Turn, is her first electronic-centric release since her Yaz days, and remarkably neither sounds like a cash grab nor some blind stab at what is current. Collaborating with Guy Sigsworth, formerly of Frou Frou and producer for Bjork, Madonna, and Britney Spears, Alison Moyet finds herself with one of her best, if not the best, records of her career; her voice still powerful and rich, with Sigsworth's productions aiding her delivery rather than just being something bright and shiny in the background.

You know things are different off the bat with the strings and muffled electronics of "Horizon Flame," Moyet's voice supple and deep, weaving in and out of the dense mix of keyboards.



Throughout the record there are nods to dubstep, from the push and pull of juggernaut "Changeling,"



the stuttering, squeltchy electronic landscape of "Apple Kisses,"



and the fierce, album highlight "All Signs of Life" that runs the gamut through dubstep and drum and bass.

Thankfully, Sigsworth and Moyet aren't slaves to one genre of music, making the minutes a stylistically varied experience, one that reveals its depths over time. There are epic tracks like the barnstorming "When I Was Your Girl" which features one of Moyet's most emotionally honest vocals,



"Love Reign Supreme" which travels in the same spritely electro-pop territory as The Postal Service,



and the stately electro-ballad "Filigree," Moyet's voice as regal as it has ever been.



the minutes was a huge surprise for me, as most of Moyet's solo records have been nice yet never really doing much other than providing bland musical backing for her powerful voice. Sigsworth seems to understand that power and works with it instead of not trying to come up against it. Providing more meat to the backing tracks actually makes her voice even more powerful. Welcome back Alison, we hope you and Sigsworth continue this fruitful partnership.

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.