Rapid Fire Reviews: 2021's RFR Finale
2021 is pretty close to ending and while I have one or two more records left to review in the coming week I also wanted to look back at the last few weeks and cover a few records I absolutely couldn't let go. While there are literally hundreds of albums I wish I could review there are only so many hours in the day, and as a result I'm setting for these 3.
Music For Psychedelic Therapy - Jon Hopkins
I've always enjoyed Jon Hopkins music even if I haven't necessarily dished out tons of praise to any one of his projects individually. He has a great ability to conceptualize ideas and synthesize them into compelling electronic music and that's what pulled me into the whole psychedelic therapy idea. When I first head Sit Around The Fire as a single I expected this record to be his most thematically dense yet and to represent some kind of journey of the mind or spirit through a combination of musical passages and various theologies. I would certainly call the music on this record a journey though not nearly as thematic a journey as I was anticipating. The Tayos Caves, Ecuador trilogy of songs are quite an interesting bunch fusing natural field recordings with electronic ambience. The trilogy starts heavily in favor of those field recordings in its mix before a slow but steady shift into a more conventional ambience and they really work as a trilogy all their own even without the records context around them. The record definitely has a heaviness to its sonic palette that defies the all too common thesis on ambient music that it's "background noise". Deep In The Glowing Heart is the best example of this and the strongest point in the middle of the record. As a full listen it definitely flirts with going above and beyond the standard of ambient music and occasionally it achieves great things but with a runtime over an hour I definitely find myself questioning some of it's extreme patience. When the record feels like it has a strong idea, I'm all over it, but in between there are moments that I don't think even the most diehard fans will be clambering to get back to. 7/10
Der Lange Marsch - Gas
Gas is the pseudonym of experimental German musician Wolfgang Voight who I've been a fan of for quite a while. When I was first discovering genres like ambient and minimalist electronica his seminal 2000 album Pop became a favorite of mine. While he makes music under a number of different aliases he revived the Gas project in 2017 for a sequel to pop that I mostly enjoyed. This is the projects 3rd release since being revitalized and while it deals in similar imagery of the "psychedelic forest" as many other Gas projects. the press leading up to albums release promised a shift in sonic approach. It isn't apparent right away exactly what they mean by that as the heavily compressed mix features a distant pounding drum that's omnipresent across the album and chilling use of classical music samples. Occasionally these songs slip into Basinski like loops that come off as far more unsettling than we've come to expect from Gas but there is always a patient route back to the formless bliss of the forest. Because I'm me many of my favorite moments on the album are some of its most haunting, using steady rises in volume and eerie manipulation of the sampled material to create a sense of impending dread. But then everything starts to quiet down and you hear that steady drum again reminding you of the sense of safety at the records core. While fans of minimal music will obviously find a lot to love in this project, I also think the ebbs and flows of it's compositions and the way the songs consistently send you spiraling back into the records core motion one after another will be apparent to most listeners. Across over an hour of runtime I never get bored with the record and I'm always in anticipation of what moves it will make next. Even being very familiar with Gas' usual tricks this record excited and surprised me throughout each time I listened and it's one of the most involved and impressive things I've heard from any of Wolfgang's projects in a long time. 8/10
Scenic Drive (The Tape) - Khalid
As far as contemporary R&B singers go I thought Khalid had a chance to at the very least set himself apart. He dropped his debut at a young age which proved not only capable of making hits but also a handful of memorable cuts. His sophomore albums was one of my most negative reviews of 2019 as his charisma evaporated completely across a selection of creatively devoid pop/R&B fusions that robbed him of anything appealing. I wouldn't say I was excited for the follow-up at least until I heard it was a mixtape. I thought that if Khalid truly took the mixtape concept to heart he could get together with some talented collaborators and make a more raw project that focused on maintaining a coherent vibe rather than scoring a hit. While the first song Present is among the worst and most forgettable I've ever heard from him, after that the mixtape improves and flirts with achieving what I hoped it would. These songs aren't necessarily great and the features are a VERY mixed bag but at least Khalid has a sound that is recognizable on the record. It's best tracks sport good features like JID and 6lack and a nocturnal sound that is more in line with contemporary R&B than contemporary pop. While I think this is a step in the right direction it also sounds like Khalid is still making some MAJOR compromises with his sound and fishing for playlist spots with predictable instrumentals, compositions and hooks. I suppose a step in the right direction is good, but if Khalid is ever going to pen something truly great he needs to lean into the talents of himself and his collaborators a lot more heavily. 5.5/10
