Nat Baldwin - People Changes

(Western Vinyl, 2011)

The grace of a new Nat Baldwin album means that 2011 is now, officially, a good year for music. That’s how I consider it anytime the man let something loose. That’s how I consider People Changes.

What I’d add is that People Changes develops from what we’ve come to expect of Baldwin—an acoustically lush bass-centric album filled with rich, sideways pop music—into a melting pot of that same-said pop with more avant garde elements (harkening back to his debut, Solo Contrabass).

The extreme of that experimental push is “What Is There,” the penultimate track on People Changes, which layers Baldwin’s bass-work on top of itself to produce a tangled beauty not dissimilar to some of Sean McCann’s recent work, though quite unique in and of itself. It’s something I’d love to listen to stretched out over the course of an entire album.

The free jazz and experimental peppering (which increase in frequency over the course of the album) are perfectly placed, and are more than welcome to the solid base of songwriting Baldiwn has developed over the years.

I want to say this is a transitional album, to assume this will propel Baldwin’s future work even further into the areas of experimentation and the unknown, but to do so would be to slight People Changes, which, of itself, is an absolutely divine picture of experimentation cohabitating with pop music.

Did I already say it? People Changes means 2011 has been a good year for music.

Weights by Nat Baldwin by western.vinyl

85.

The Dirty Projectors
Slaves’ Graves (and Ballads)
(Western Vinyl, 2004)

Dave Longstreth has always been a music nerd, but being a nerd hasn’t always been as cool as it is now. As a younger nerd, I think he was at his best and Slaves’ Graves (and Ballads) is that nerdiness in its most beautiful form (though The Getty Address is a close second). On Slave’s Graves there isn’t a hint of the pretence that hovers around Bitte Orca, only stripped down, elastic voiced Dave being all cool and great with his orchestral first half and hollow guitar second. All loverly and dreamy like a geeked out boy crush.

-Thistle

Here We Go Magic- Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic
Here We Go Magic
(02.2008, Western Vinyl)
Verdict: Paul Simon, Vampire Weekend minus the prep stars, real magic

I have been meaning to write a review for this for over three weeks now, but have been letting my laziness get in the way. However, do not let my procrastination fool you into thinking I am not way super in love with and excited about Here We Go Magic. I love the afro-beat influences that have been creeping into indie music over the last two or three years, and this album capitalizes on afro-beat better than anyone I have heard since Paul Simon. I know I have compared other albums to Simon's Rhythm of the Saints album (which is his best in my opinion) but Here We Go Magic is more like unto it than anything before, in a really good and non-copy-cat way. Luke Temple even sounds like Simon, which I never noticed until this album. Temple is one of my favorite vocalists to emerge over the last few years and his singer/songwriter loneliness and soul is not put to waste as one might have thought it would be by adding multi-layered instrumentals and loops into his new project. His vocals works wonderfully and eerily as always, quietly gracing the percussive beat driven rhythms of half the tracks on the album, while the other half are vocal free and drone based. Now, if you know me, you know that drone is a very touchy subject with me and that I am incredibly particular about the drone I find tolerable, so this next sentence should blow your socks off. I love every song on this album, drone and all. If that doesn't sell you, I don't know what will.

-Lil' Sass

Balmorhea - River Arms

Balmorhea
River Arms
(02.2008, Western Vinyl)
Verdict = Solid Plaintive Instrumentals

Balmorhea’s River Arms is undeniably beautiful. Made up of cinematic, neo classical compositions embedded with classical, post rock and Americana influences; Rivers Arms is filled to the brim with emotional musical motifs that seem bent on tugging at your heart strings. There are two challenges to composing this type of music. First, the album is competing in a market that is already saturated with numerous artists with ambitions to accomplish the exact same thing. Second, amongst the throng of instrumental piano/violin/acoustic guitar/etcetera crowd it can be difficult to create music that is truly emotive without coming off as, simply, emo. The cure to both problems requires taking risks in writing and playing that few attempt and even fewer are able to pull off. On Rivers Arms, Balmorhea stops short of even attempting anything unique and in doing so has relegated a very beautiful album to becoming background music. The album, while very pretty, is not head turning nor memorable and while it may be good music for breaking up with your girlfriend, you probably will forget that you even own it and miss the chance all together. I respect the group’s efforts here, but feel that Balmorhea will have to bring something much more interesting to the table before they can be mentioned notably among independent chamber/classical legends such as Rachels or Max Richter.

-Mr. Thistle

Balmorhea on Myspace

Shuta Hasunuma - OK Bamboo

Shuta Hasunuma
OK Bamboo
(11.2007, Western Vinyl)
9.0/10

Shuta Hasunuma is an electronic artist of the organic, glitched out variety. If those descriptors come off as a deterrent, I would encourage you reconsideration because where a sea of similarly labeled artists have created an almost eternal amount of mediocre soundscapery, just good enough to lure you in before you realize that it is another bored waste of time, Hasunuma has somehow sidestepped the pack and created something of substance; something of soft penetrating power. OK Bamboo is some kind of beautiful amalgamation of Fennesz, Kallikak Family, Shugo Tokumaru and Four Tet all set to the instrumental backbone of Hasunuma’s tinkling piano. Interchangeably playful and shyly downtrodden, Hasunuma covers the full spectrum of emotion through his chameleonesque meditations, using electronic means to bring about the most palpable of human emotions. OK Bamboo is a masterwork of electronic construction and expression as a true and endearing art form and musical process. It is albums like OK Bamboo that make you feel good about life on earth; that make you feel hopeful that there are still people in the world creating and sharing positively beautiful works of art amongst the overwhelming amount of shameful destruction. In the end, OK Bamboo is a quaint album to cuddle up with on a Saturday morning. Absolutely wonderful.

-Mr. Thistle

Shuta Hasunuma - "Prelude"