December 2013 reviews
Posted: 31 Dec 2013, 16:09
It’s a slow day at work so I’m nipping in to Mix Club with hours of December to spare:
1. Cool, weird synth-pop on a budget. I can't quite put my finger on why I like this but I really do. I think that part of it is the 'odd guy alone in his bedroom with a Casio keyboard' amateurish charm that's going on. This makes it quite difficult to date as well. It could have been made at any point of the last 40 years, although I'd probably guess at early 80s. Intriguing stuff.
2. Soft rock time. It's a bit cheesy (particularly the backing vocals) but there's a certain appeal to it, and i do like how clean and shiny all the individual instruments sound. I quite enjoyed it within the context of this mix but I'd probably balk at a full album.
3. Nothing clean and shiny about this one. There's not too much to grab hold of but I like the crispy, tinny drumming and the big OTT guitar wig-outs. A definite grower.
4. This mix is all over the place (in a good way). Jazzy funk time now. This is pretty wild, particularly the 100mph guitar. My feet are getting all shuffly. Great stuff.
5. Choppy, tempo-shifting math rock type thing with the occasional whiff of a wonky blues riff. I'd have been all over this a few years ago but it all just seems a little soulless to me these days. I do still quite like it though, it does seem slightly more playful than things of a similar ilk, and I'm be curious to find out who it is.
6. I quite like this too, it's enjoyable, although the some of the rapping, like the 'Don't stop y'all' hook, is a bit trite.
7. Wow, this one is bizarre. I really dig the squelchy beats but the vocals are fucking mental. Rarely have I been so fascinated by something so terrible. At first I thought that it was just random noises, but every now and then I catch a garbled word that I recognise. Points for boldness, certainly. I don't think that I'd ever want to hear this again, but out of all the tracks on the mix this is the one that I'm most interested in investigating.
8. Laid back Caribbean grooves resting gently upon a relentless electro drum beat. Smashin'.
9. This is fab. Jr Walker style saxy intro, cool vocals, swinging grooves; all the best ingredients for a sweet funk workout.
10. Some twee, lo-fi, jangly, girly indie-pop. I'm a complete sucker for this kind of thing. It sounds very much like Tiger Trap, but I don't think that it can be them because they don't have much in the way of a back catalogue. Whoever it is, it's bloody lovely and I'm looking forward to the reveal.
11. Old school hipperty-hop from back in the days when it was fun. The rapping's daft, but it has a cheeky charm, and you can just picture the great big grin on his face in the recording studio.
12. Some smooth soul. Perhaps a little bit glossy for my tastes, but I do like it overall. It's got a classy arrangement and the vocals are effortlessly cool. I'm almost tempted to say that I recognise the track, or at least the voice, but I can't place it.
13. Another one that's hard to get a handle on. It's difficult to know whether this is a piss-take parody, tongue-in-cheek fun, or deadly serious. It's certainly toe-tappingly jaunty and definitely raises a smile.
14. Smoooooth jazz. A bit backgroundy, but it's certainly not unpleasant. Is it a cover? Every now and then I catch a little teaser of something unidentifiably familiar.
So there we go. Thanks a bunch. Reading back my review, it almost sounds like I didn't enjoy the mix as much as I did, but every track had something to recommend it, and a couple of them confused the shit out of me (in a good way). The randomness of the journey was also great fun. Thanks again.
1. Cool, weird synth-pop on a budget. I can't quite put my finger on why I like this but I really do. I think that part of it is the 'odd guy alone in his bedroom with a Casio keyboard' amateurish charm that's going on. This makes it quite difficult to date as well. It could have been made at any point of the last 40 years, although I'd probably guess at early 80s. Intriguing stuff.
2. Soft rock time. It's a bit cheesy (particularly the backing vocals) but there's a certain appeal to it, and i do like how clean and shiny all the individual instruments sound. I quite enjoyed it within the context of this mix but I'd probably balk at a full album.
3. Nothing clean and shiny about this one. There's not too much to grab hold of but I like the crispy, tinny drumming and the big OTT guitar wig-outs. A definite grower.
4. This mix is all over the place (in a good way). Jazzy funk time now. This is pretty wild, particularly the 100mph guitar. My feet are getting all shuffly. Great stuff.
5. Choppy, tempo-shifting math rock type thing with the occasional whiff of a wonky blues riff. I'd have been all over this a few years ago but it all just seems a little soulless to me these days. I do still quite like it though, it does seem slightly more playful than things of a similar ilk, and I'm be curious to find out who it is.
6. I quite like this too, it's enjoyable, although the some of the rapping, like the 'Don't stop y'all' hook, is a bit trite.
7. Wow, this one is bizarre. I really dig the squelchy beats but the vocals are fucking mental. Rarely have I been so fascinated by something so terrible. At first I thought that it was just random noises, but every now and then I catch a garbled word that I recognise. Points for boldness, certainly. I don't think that I'd ever want to hear this again, but out of all the tracks on the mix this is the one that I'm most interested in investigating.
8. Laid back Caribbean grooves resting gently upon a relentless electro drum beat. Smashin'.
9. This is fab. Jr Walker style saxy intro, cool vocals, swinging grooves; all the best ingredients for a sweet funk workout.
10. Some twee, lo-fi, jangly, girly indie-pop. I'm a complete sucker for this kind of thing. It sounds very much like Tiger Trap, but I don't think that it can be them because they don't have much in the way of a back catalogue. Whoever it is, it's bloody lovely and I'm looking forward to the reveal.
11. Old school hipperty-hop from back in the days when it was fun. The rapping's daft, but it has a cheeky charm, and you can just picture the great big grin on his face in the recording studio.
12. Some smooth soul. Perhaps a little bit glossy for my tastes, but I do like it overall. It's got a classy arrangement and the vocals are effortlessly cool. I'm almost tempted to say that I recognise the track, or at least the voice, but I can't place it.
13. Another one that's hard to get a handle on. It's difficult to know whether this is a piss-take parody, tongue-in-cheek fun, or deadly serious. It's certainly toe-tappingly jaunty and definitely raises a smile.
14. Smoooooth jazz. A bit backgroundy, but it's certainly not unpleasant. Is it a cover? Every now and then I catch a little teaser of something unidentifiably familiar.
So there we go. Thanks a bunch. Reading back my review, it almost sounds like I didn't enjoy the mix as much as I did, but every track had something to recommend it, and a couple of them confused the shit out of me (in a good way). The randomness of the journey was also great fun. Thanks again.