The Mount Kimbie album

M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Thoughts?

I like it a lot, so am trying to avoid the hype. It's not amazing, not my favourite release I've heard in the past 12 months or anything, but I do reckon it's a very solid debut.

It reminds me a lot of laidback electronic listening stuff from about 10 years ago. I don't know if I can write that without sounding like I'm trolling. :eek: Def. not entirely, there's plenty about it that's pretty "now", but it does make me think of stuff like Two Lone Swordsmen (circa Stay Down / Bag of Blue Sparks / A Virus With Shoes), Nonplace Urban Field, Pole's ~scape label (Staedtizism compilations more than the artist releases, but def. Gramm-era Jan Jelinek), those Future 3 / System guys (Opiate / Dub Tractor / Acustic). Even a bit of SND.

That's not entirely wrt the same sounds, but the common thread I'd pick out there is artists who do (AFAIK) like dance music plenty, but aren't writing music to dance to. And some stuff about noisy crackly atmos + samples + certain flavours of synth sounds seems to run through all of it. Plus some tracks have really deliberately weedy percussion sounds, which is very much like some of the above.
 
P

Phaedo

Well-known member
I love it, its not totally mind-blowing or anything but just every track is great, ambitious, interesting. They have such a keen sense of how to make jolty rhythms and strange melodies, but that work. Its not just being "experimental" for the sake of it.

IMO, the last track is probably surplus to requirements, Mayor is such a sick tune I think they should of just ended it then. Its also a really good long player, I don't know most of the track names cos its just a album to plug in and get lost in so to speak, works really well as one peice of music.

But yeh, I can't really say anything that bad about it. If there was maybe one or two mindblowing tracks this would be a classic album. But as you said its just solid really.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
It's bizarre that until now I'd never really noticed the Jan Jelinek similarities, especially with regards to the percussion - he's one of my favourite artists (though I prefer his more out and out ambient (i.e recent) shit). I think the album is great, it's a slow burner - at first I wasn't mad keen on it but I kept going back for more and a different track would become my new favourite for a few days. I like that they seem pretty comfortable using simple production techniques (such like using percussion to play a melody, or using those cut-up akufen style vocal samples), except they make sure it's done well. In short they have a natural flair and musicianship - their stuff sounds much much more interesting than 99% of the dance music that is kicking about just now to me.

To me this is probably one of the best albums of the year, maybe THE BEST??
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
be great to have an extended version of opener "tunnelvision" on 12" for the dancefloor...although maybe the reason i love that groove now is BECAUSE it's only 1:43, a tease.
 
D

droid

Guest
ZZ001690.jpg
 
Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
i like it too. the soft synths and digital reverb give it a "lite" quality which usually i struggle with, but is actually very refreshing. like babycham.
 
Alfons

Alfons

Way of the future
agree with the first post, I actually expected more from this album and find the first ep's better but it is still a pretty good album.
 
M

MatthewH

makes strange noises.
At times I found it strange that Flying Lotus would release another album so quickly after the last one.
 
Y

ytz

Coelacanth
Enjoyed it plenty. Not sure what made it "an album", rather than two EPs stuck together.
 
hucks

hucks

Your Message Here
Leo said:
be great to have an extended version of opener "tunnelvision" on 12" for the dancefloor...although maybe the reason i love that groove now is BECAUSE it's only 1:43, a tease.
Click to expand...

Ha, totally agree, that track's amazing. Tried bunging it in Audacity and looping bits of it but that's actually harder than it should be. For me, anyhow.

Anyhow, I think the album's great, and think it definitely is an album
 
M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Agree on the brevity as a good thing.

Another thing I reckon is decent is that I think I could hear a Mt Kimbie track and know it's them, which is surprisingly uncommon...
 
D

droid

Guest
michael said:
Whoa, is Bola still operational? Never liked his stuff, but was this a change in direction..?
Click to expand...

Not sure if hes still making music. That Peacefrog release was a bit of a change of direction/last gasp.

Remarkable that the similarities between this record and late 90's/early 00's electronica extend beyond the obvious sonic ones and into the artwork and visuals.

I also think you were generous with your initial comparisons. What Ive heard of this is nice but to my ears its more like something on deFocus than Scape. Strange how 'nice' MOR electronica is getting big now considering it was a glut of the same that pretty much killed the genre.
 
M

mms

sometimes
droid said:
Not sure if hes still making music. That Peacefrog release was a bit of a change of direction/last gasp.

Remarkable that the similarities between this record and late 90's/early 00's electronica extend beyond the obvious sonic ones and into the artwork and visuals.

I also think you were generous with your initial comparisons. What Ive heard of this is nice but to my ears its more like something on deFocus than Scape. Strange how 'nice' MOR electronica is getting big now considering it was a glut of the same that pretty much killed the genre.
Click to expand...

yeah i get the same vibe
 
S

Stuntrock

Active member
Back on topic, I got the same vibe from this LP : One really nice track for home listening (but not as nice as the first EP) and a big meh for the rest.
Much more digging the Actress LP. Great versatile stuff on it, and it surpases the EPs he's released so far.
 
M

massrock

Well-known member
Wait a minute, they turn their bleedin' shirt collars up. This is a big problem.
 
Last edited:
M

michael

Bring out the vacuum
droid said:
I also think you were generous with your initial comparisons. What Ive heard of this is nice but to my ears its more like something on deFocus than Scape. Strange how 'nice' MOR electronica is getting big now considering it was a glut of the same that pretty much killed the genre.
Click to expand...

I don't see it as strange, really, it just reflects on how music press / pop / scenes are a young people's world. 10-15 years back is forever ago if you're in your early 20s now.

My comparisons were trying to describe the sound and approach, not the quality. Releases on Defocus sounded to me like they strictly cared about electronica and were inspired by existing electronica, not by dance music of any flavour. I don't get that from Mt Kimbie.
 
D

droid

Guest
michael said:
I don't see it as strange, really, it just reflects on how music press / pop / scenes are a young people's world. 10-15 years back is forever ago if you're in your early 20s now.

My comparisons were trying to describe the sound and approach, not the quality. Releases on Defocus sounded to me like they strictly cared about electronica and were inspired by existing electronica, not by dance music of any flavour. I don't get that from Mt Kimbie.
Click to expand...

Yeah... Im not sure I entirely agree. Defocus/00's style electronica still had links to other genres (130's dance music and hip hop primarily).

I guess it seems odd to me that it is till (relatively) recently that the electronica scene floundered - probably 02/03 and it seems that the same cul-de-sac has been reached via a different route (though hopefully not).

Anyway. I think this is called for - Electronica meets dubstep:

dubtronics_allsleeves.jpg


http://www.weareie.com/2008/09/blogariddims-49-dubtronics.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top