Electronically charged
jazz, Anthony Pell (Apell to eir's fans) provides listeners with
a rich instrumental backdrop, creating the best experience one can have
listening to music. This is not necessarily the music that gets the body
moving, but is rather like an illicit drug, opening one's mind to a myriad
of new sensations.
While instrumental CDs are notorious for becoming monotonous and extremely
repetitive after the first few tracks, Apell busts through four tracks with
the greatest of ease, and is incidentally the perfect soundtrack replacement
for the acid jazz of the Weather Channel (really, I'm not being derogatory
- just the smooth, inoffensive tones of Apell are bizarrely fitting). The
more middle eastern flow of Summer,
gradually spinning out of control through the inclusion of hip-hop styled
drums, is a welcome change of pace from the rest of the disc, and keeps
eir's listeners on their toes.
"One can't help but be enthralled by the
arrangements."
It is very seldom that completely computer-arranged drums sound decent on
a disc; Apell has made the drum tracks on "Beaver Street & Beyond"
so intentionally fake, so otherworldly and with such a fervor that one
can't help but be enthralled by the arrangements. Unorthodox
is literally one of the most solidly named tracks in recent history - thrust
on by a backwards-masked track, the only thing orthodox about this track
are the smooth, incredibly-arranged drum and synth
tracks. Throughout the entirety of the disc, vocals do come into
play but Apell has a much more insidious use for them - very rarely will
an individual find a vocal track that Apell isn't actively using as a make-shift
instrument.
Where something like Fluke can be the drugs of electronic music, Apell
actually can program and arrange with the best of them and yet make a
cohesive album that does not repeat itself. While I could completely see
putting this album on before studying or sleeping, there really is not
much to grab the interest of someone that has been inculcated to the bells
and whistles of popular music.
Apell may be trying for commercial success, but where Apell will make
eir's killing will be at the jazz places and minor concert halls the world
over, where individuals will hook into ey's music and be more actively
supporting eir. Apell is a mixture of all the things
that are strong in electronic, jazz, and tribal music - where more
electronic artists seem to just be incorporating dance or rock into their
track, methinks it wouldn't hurt to listen to "Beaver Street &
Beyond" a few times.
Top Tracks: Summer, Lust Rating : 7.0/10
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