BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - April 2016

Antwon
Double Ecstasy EP
Anticon Records
Los Angeles via San Jose rapper Antwon is known
as an artist that could easily be called “post-genre.”
In the past, the rapper has tipped his hat to such
disparate influences as rapper Biz Markie, Cocteau
Twins and Biohazard. On his new Double Hazard
EP, it’s easy to hear elements from all of them.
The five-track EP is a collaboration with producer
Lars Stalfors, whose presence adds a cohesiveness
that was missing from Antwon’s previous
work. His productions are dark and grimy, focused
on punishing low end and disorienting melodies.
“Club” features a constant 16th note sub-bass
assault that is unrelenting. It functions as a
perfect backdrop for Antwon’s often over-the-top
lyricism.
Antwon’s sexual appetite is as strong as ever, evidenced
by sex-centered songs like “Girl, Flex.” The
track finds Antwon doling out a healthy helping
of confident cunnilingus raps a la Danny Brown at
his most hedonistic. Its effectiveness is dampened
with a lazy hook, “Girl, flex. We bout’ to have sex.”
More often than not, it’s hard to justify Antwon’s
appearance on otherwise stellar beats. It
doesn’t seem like he has anything important to
say, and his raps meander and suffer because of it.
• Jamie McNamara
Boris with Merzbow
Gensho
Relapse Records
You know how The Wizard of Oz and Dark
Side of the Moon sync up? The Boris parts and
the Merzbow parts of Gensho sync up too, in
the way that if you were to play The Shaggs’
Philosophy of The World at the wrong speed
while watching a badly-damaged VHS of Meet
The Feebles they would sync up, in that you’ll
actually just end up insane and insanity, as Philip
K Dick reminds us, is sometimes an appropriate
response to reality.
You’re supposed to play both halves of
Gensho on different media players, adjusting the
volume until you strike a balance between Boris’
post-rock epic “Farewell” (still Boris’s best song)
or their sultry jam “Rainbow” and Merzbow’s
irredeemably harsh noise. Boris may be palatable
to anyone with a taste for alternative music, and
the re-recordings of fan-favourite songs here are
as close as they’ll get to a best-of, but Merzbow
is the alternative to music itself, and here he
doesn’t even make the minimal concessions to
rhythm that had his fans crying “Judas!” in the
early two-thousands.
If you have time to put into mixing your own
noise album then go right ahead, otherwise
enjoy an introduction to one of the world’s most
consistently fascinating guitar bands.
• Gareth Watkins
Explosions in the Sky
The Wilderness
Temporary Residence Ltd.
Antwon
The mark of a great album is how much it enhances.
From studying, to chores, to road trips, to
daydreaming, to love-makin’, a great album will
always be applicable and will always elevate. With
Explosions in the Sky’s seventh studio album, they
tap into our natural world in an astonishing way,
and are able to take listeners on mind-expanding
journeys within minutes. Lying in bed with nothing
else but the music, it is possible to explore the
galaxy, the imagination spilling forth like paint
on a canvas. In “Losing the Light,” shadows begin
growing across a sun soaked landscape, reflected
in the increasing, droning lows, ever placating
beautiful chiming highs. Dappled flecks of
golden light can be called to mind, flickering like
dying embers, slowly overcome by a darkening
landscape. One of EITS’s best songs to date. Also
of immediate note is “Logic of a Dream,” with its
waving intensity that crests and falls, almost like
the beating of a gong. The trance builds as if some
mystic battle march, with dreamy Siren-like tones
coaxing listeners from fear. The song then devolves
into the bright trademark sound the band
is known for. Pleasant, soothing tones pull the
listener from the sweaty recesses of a fever dream
into a sunlit, morning of rolling over and falling
into sweet sleep. This album is equally cathartic,
effervescent, and transcendent. Like putting the
perfect filter on your camera for a photograph,
The Wilderness will highlight every ounce of
beauty from the moments in your life.
• Willow Grier
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop
Love Letter for Fire
Sub Pop
Sam Beam is no stranger to collaboration. From
the excellent EP recorded with Calexico to the
covers album he released last year with Ben
Bridwell from Band of Horses, it hasn’t been a
shock to see an ampersand stuck next to the
name Iron and Wine. Love Letter to Fire however,
does not include his typical stage name. Sam
Beam nakedly shares the namesake of this record
with Manchester singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop
and they have produced an album 13 entirely collaborative
tracks. Iron and Wine fans are catered
to a little bit more strongly here than Jesca Hoop
fans however, although their voices interplay
very well, Sam Beam is more strongly present
in the vocal mixes on most tracks, even though
Jesca Hoop probably nets more time singing.
The songs as well are more straightforward than
either songwriter’s recent solo material, and as a
result the record tonally skews in the direction of
Iron and Wine’s Kiss Each Other Clean (2011). On
tracks like “Kiss Me Quick” and “Valley Clouds”
in particular, Hoop does not quite get her due
behind Sam Beams percussive guitar and humid
vocals. Both are obviously experts at crafting
beautiful songs and together they elevate each
other’s work, a strong step in the right direction
for both songwriters.
• Liam Prost
The Dandy Warhols
Distortland
Dine Alone Records
Everyone’s favourite Urban Bohemians have
hit a milestone with their 10th album Distortland.
The result is an aptly named album full
of infectious distortion, focused, crafty hooks
and more than a few salty bits of wisdom. The
Dandies have always brought poppy fun and a
little edge of darkness to their musical poetry
about trying to portray oneself as unaffected
while being plugged right in. Amongst the
reverb heavy synth, the plucky hooks, the
strummy catching riffs, the mean ol’ distortion
and the surfy grabs that string together the
tracklist of this album, there are almost smug,
world weary bits of advice that land whether
you want them to or not. In “Catcher in the
Rye,” amongst the bass groove leading you
through it, you hear: “Don’t you know anything
can get you down if you let it. Some days more
than others this is how I’ve lived and learned to
divide them.” What follows is a series of advice
for disillusioned youth, the kind just like Holden
Caulfield, the main character of the titular book
the song is named after: “Keep your head down
and let the worst of it pass on by you,” “If its not
fun then it’s funny for sure.” The Dandies are
most notably not one of those bands trying to
hold on to who they were two decades ago. This
is an album that marries a much more settled
production style, a much more tempered sonic
approach, and a much more established voice.
Which is what makes the big finish that much
more intriguing. “The Grow Up Song” is the final
track and a true bummer of a tune. Perhaps
intending to be ironic, perhaps very much not,
Courtney Taylor-Taylor wearily confesses to
being past his prime and weary of the game,
finishing with the cop movie trope of “I’m too
old for this shit”. With true hipster cynicism, he
rewards the listener for ingesting all his wellformed
and catchy advice by telling them he is
over it all. Quite a jarring slap from a guy who
once cordially invited you to come to his vegan
work so he could get them to cook you something
that you’ll really like. Getting old appears
to still suck.
• Jennie Orton
28 APRIL 2016 •
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