Review Summary: A cohesive, interesting slice of glitch from one of the world's most invisible producers.
RELEASED 2008 THROUGH BANDCAMP
Newgrounds is one of the best (if the not the best) places to get electronic music free of copyright restrictions. Several quality online games, including Age of War and Flight, have boasted enjoyable Newgrounds 'soundtracks,' and you might even be familiar with "I Like Your Hat," the theme (straight out of Newgrounds) for the Cyanide and Happiness clips. Each song is free and easy to download, hassle free even for people who aren’t Newgrounds ‘members.’ But when it comes down to it, even the greatest Newgrounds music does not last on my iPod. There is a certain amateur, repetitive quality to the music that does not allow it to stand alongside ‘professional’ music. Time after time, I find myself adding and then removing various video game and orchestral music from my playlist, not sure of what to do with the growing pile of mp3's in my downloads folder. One day, I found a song that I especially liked: Back to the Front by Kingbastard. As the months passed yet the song remained, I realized that there was at least one artist on Newgrounds.
Chris Weeks, the producer behind the works of Kingbastard, is one of the few musicians to gain a record deal due to his work on Newgrounds. He is actually cited in the Newgrounds wikipedia page and his work has been broadcast on BBC. And there's a reason for that: Mr. Weeks knows how to MAKE MUSIC.
LITTLE RED BOOK does not hesitate in proving this point.
FISHBOATNCO, a powerhouse of a song, sets the mood immediately, crawling in with a shivering glitchy melody that seems to creep into your ears and check to see if you’re listening. Suddenly, the peace is shattered by an armada of imposing, shifting, rattling synthesizers and a drumbeat that would fill a dancefloor of spastic robots. Follow up ONCE A’ continues with the shuttering beats and imposing synths and introduces Week’s voice (which sounds a bit like a dispassionate Thom Yorke thrown through a Strokes filter), juxtaposing lyrics contemplating natural meditation with the song’s very mechanical, moving feel. PEAL gathers natural clattering and ringing sound effects and merges them into a dank harbor atmosphere. The Eno-like ambience of MIND@REST takes a small break from Week’s hectic beats before launching into the dark trudging stomp of TYPO, which uses Week’s vocals to become a very disconnected, muttering reflection on restlessness. To wrap everything up, GHOSTWRITER combines a harshly distorted but relaxed drum machine with the same ambient feel as MIND@REST.
LITTLE RED BOOK may be divided into six ‘songs,’ but its cohesiveness as a whole is quite amazing not only for an EP but for an album in general. Each song glides effortlessly into the next, and while each shares signature elements and moods, every song displays a different take or approach. Chris’s drum machines are always powerful, his vocals are always very human yet very disconnected, and his melodies are simple yet distinct. LITTLE RED BOOK is the exploration of a mood and a style, and Chris’s attention to detail and mastery of his instruments make it a very worthwhile exploration indeed.
