Tag: Prince

Blood Orange – Coastal Grooves

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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Dev Hynes changes names like most of us change pants, you know, once or twice a week.  First there was Test Icicles, then Lightspeed Champion, and now Blood Orange.  While names may come and go, Dev will always be the same, and Coastal Groove, his new record, finds him sort of running in place, albeit a more 80s influenced place.

When “Forget It” hits your speakers, those familiars won’t find too much different than the most recent Lightspeed Champion record.  But, the slightest nuance can change things; you’ll notice a more electronic beat driving the track, but Dev’s sultry voice is always front and center.  Moving right into “Sulphin Boulevard” will have you catching the essence of the entirety of Coastal Grooves.  There’s a delicateness to every musical note, breathing sexuality over electronic down-tempo tunes a la Twin Shadow.

It’d be real easy to throw lots of Prince allusions throughout this first record by Blood Orange, especially if you catch the vocal performance on “Instantly Blank,” but that’s probably selling Hynes short, as he’s always had this odd combination of indie rock and R&B; this is one of the reasons I’ve always adored his work. But, for the majority of the record this sort of feels like his attempt at mediocre bedroom pop, and that might not be his foray; if you strip him of his orchestration, he seems less dramatic, less artistic even.

One of the saving graces about Mr. Hynes is that he’s always been fairly open about his projects, willing to do pretty much anything he’s asked, just for the sake of it.  That being said, there are some successful tracks that I’ve found myself jamming to throughout the day, such as “The Complete Knock” with its steady stuttering guitar line kicking off a nice little groove throughout. “Are You Sure You’re Really Busy” seems like the track where he could take off into a different level, as the drama in his voice, wavering ever so slightly gives this track an extra step above the rest of Coastal Grooves.

For what it’s worth, this isn’t a bad record at all; I’ve heard much worse (from the Foo Fighters) this year alone. Yet, having followed Dev for quite some time now, I can’t help but be a little let down by the entire Blood Orange project.  He’s missing something here, such as his orchestration or his flare for spinning words into new melodies mid-word.  Coastal Grooves seems to lose a bit of focus, turning out the same guitar line over and over, but I’m still going to get into it over time because that’s just what Dev deserves.

Pop Levi – Never Never Love

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Rating: ★★★½☆

It’s hard not to be a fan of really good pop music, especially with the output of independent artists bringing great pop to our ear; Pop Levi is just another such character in a long line of pop musicians leaving good bands (Ladytron) to go it their own in the pop world.

Now on his second album, I’ve come to expect great things from this character, despite his tendency to look like a side-show Shakespearean actor.  However, the output here is too similar to the debut album to substantially increase his value in the pop lexicon of the music industry.

His voice is quite unique, which makes it hard to distinguish changes in pitch from song to song, as his falsetto reverberates in the caverns of my mind. Even here, it seems like more effects are being used to help shape is voice, although more of that is owed to the various samples and instrumentation that weighs this album down.

There are some exceptional tracks present throughout this record, and the spacing is appropriate so as to keep our interest from start to finish.  “Semi-babe” slows it down just enough to mimic an Albert Hammond Jr. ballad.  It’s a different spin on his tried and true formula, immediately creating one of the more memorable moments on Never Never Love. “Mai Space” also has a similar magic to it, even though I feel as if the samples here were directly rooted in Flaming Lips Yoshimi nostalgia.

There are some missteps here too, which keeps this album from rising to the surface of a pleasant breakthrough album in 2008. Pop Levi‘s desire to imitate such greats as Prince tend to show him at his weakest moments, and frankly, his most unoriginal.  Similarly, “Calling Me Down” represents a change in direction from traditional stylings, for this artist at least.  When he slows it down this slow, he loses ground with his audience, which is fair enough considering the album should probably stop before the closing song, “Fountain Of Lies;” the greatest mistake I noticed.

Throughout the record, I hoped and prayed, that he could hold onto the strength of the opening bit of this album.  I admire his efforts to go beyond his comfort level into new areas of pop where he was yet to traverse, but in doing so, he loses what grabbed me during his debut.  What I expected to be extremely experimental in the pop vein of things, ended up retracing the steps of his past glories; when he steps off this path, he falls too far off, leaving us waiting for him back on the trail to pop glory.