#361 Blueprint - Sign Language

Another one from Nicole, listened to in some rare time cranny while I was packing, predated to at least get the month right (written 6/4).

I want to like this, I almost do. It has all the parts, the thin beats, the swooning ambient beats, but there is something in the whole, in the composition, that doesn't quite work. A couple times in the past I was listening to music, and didn't realize for 5 minutes or so that some game I had somewhere in some deep buried browser window tab was also playing music over it. I knew the music was off, that there was something broken in it, but one or the other was tuned down low enough to not quite grab my conscious attention. I then was really retroactively annoyed at the subtle cacophony I'd subjected myself to. This is what this album is like most of the way through.

The vocals kind of float on top, just out of step, in tone or time, and its really a deal breaker. This happens on almost all of the songs, though 6am transcends this to be what I wanted from the rest of the album, with a ramshackle, rolling rhodes just under the surface. But other than that standout track, it is just off. I don't know if it was a conscious choice, or if this guy is just doing something wrong that other artists know to avoid, but I really couldn't listen to this without cringing just a little 2/5

You might like this if: You like downbeat, textured instrumental trip/hip-hop, and aren't bothered by / don't notice whatever subtle shifts ruined it for me.