2017-2019 - Against All Logic: Review
is the alias that electronic music producer Nicholas Jarr introduced in 2018 to release house music he had been assembling sporadically for years. After his first record 2012-2017 covered a five year span the follow-up came much quicker less than two years after the album that preceded it.
Review By Lavender:
After not enjoying Nicholas Jarr's 2015 record Sirens as much as most people I didn't expect him to drop not only my favorite of his projects, but one of my favorite electronic music albums of the entire 2010's with his very next drop. 2012-2017 came out of nowhere to be one of the most refreshing and thrilling house records I've heard in a long time. Given the time span the record was made over I had a feeling we wouldn't hear from this moniker for a long time, maybe ever again. But to my surprise Jarr announced an EP from the project, followed by this full length album the very next weekend. The EP took a wildly different approach than 2012 and included much more wandering compositions and downplayed the driving rhythms that are so familiar to house music. I thought the EP was decent but I'm glad that on 2017-2019 Jarr is much more back in house music form. Despite the fact that there is a different tone to this record than its jazzy predecessor all the core elements that made the last record great come back in spade here.
The album didn't have any singles but leading into it you can pretty quickly get a sense of the records strong direction. Fantasy is the very busy opening track with layers of synths and a bunch of chopped up vocal samples that I absolutely adore. The fuzzy beating percussion is a treat and keeps the song in a tight rhythm that is detailed and complex but still absolutely infectious from start to finish. If Loving You Is Wrong comes next and drops a prominent booming synth line to kick the track off before backing it with some snappy and rattling percussion samples that phase in and out of the song. The song has one of the best and most catchy soul samples I've ever heard on an Against All Logic track and its short but sweet formula pays off big time. Next up is With An Addict which opens up with a fast paced and hectic drum patters that leads into some calmer more soother synths. As always some incredibly slick vocal samples show up in the for of a pair of repeated refrains that guide the track in and out of its crescendos. The song has some excellent percussion too pairing some wandering high hats with tight jungle drums that I really enjoy.
A third of the way through the record it is pretty easy to tell that Jarr is going for more of the sound he worked at on the second half of 2012 with songs like Rave On U, and he gets even deeper into wrapping jittery instrumentals into tight, hard-hitting house beats in the middle of the record. If You Can' Do It Good, Do It Hard is a collaboration with Lydia Lunch that thankfully I like much more than their meeting on the EP that preceded this album. It's fittingly one of the more immediate tunes with driving percussion and some loud shrill synths right out of the gate but it gets even crazier fro, there. The second half of the track is dominated by an absolutely manic performance from Lydia Lunch that is perfectly mixed around the tracks beat and is far and away the most confrontational thing you'll hear on the record. Alarm is a short piece that clocks in under two minutes but is absolutely balls to the wall from start to finish. With reverb heavy chimes and distorted drums the song certainly keeps the albums momentum going. Deeeeeefers is one of the wildest songs here but I totally love it. It has some very metallic percussion and a driving almost horn like sound that keep the mix full for most of the song. The song gets crazier and crazies as more layers fly in and coalesce into a massive earth shattering composition that I adore.
Much like its predecessor the last handful of track take a big of a different direction on 2017-2019, but unlike the last Against All Logic record they get more tame rather than more experimental, and make for some of my least favorite songs. Faith is a fittingly titled track that is dusted with some choral like vocal harmonies with a smooth beat at its core. This track is much more comfortable hanging in the background and has some cool textures, but by the end of it the song has slipped into borderline ambient music. Penny on the other hand is a great track with an incredibly infectious core refrain that reminds me of Boards Of Canada. The glittery keys are catchy and beautiful, plus the simple percussion is almost dreamy despite being so uptempo. The closing track You (Forever) is my only real disappointment with the record. Despite being the outro it is incredibly tame with some light vocal sampling and very little structure to its passages. It does feature some pretty cool glitchy sound effects but aside from that it is one of the loosest songs on the record in almost every sense.
2017-2019 came much sooner than many anticipated, but now that its here I can see exactly why. Jarr had more than enough reason to let these fantastic songs out into the world, pushing the envelope even further than on the first Against All Logic record. Aside from a short skid that closes off the record it is an almost nonstop roller coaster of low-fi synths, expansive percussion and beautiful sampled vocal harmonies. A record that quickly became one of my most anticipated of the year in the brief time between its announcement and its release lived up to the hype big time. Not only is it the leading contender for electronic record of the year, it is likely to be in the mix for album of the year period. 9/10
And for my review of the recent Against All Logic EP click here
