Recently I have taken to tweeting my immediate reaction to albums as I listen to them in their entirety for the first time. I click play, let the album play, and tweet. I haven't edited my tweets, just laid them out to read as an article as best they can.
Without further ado here are my tweets for Crystal Fighters - Star of Love (Deluxe Edition)
Bought the crystal fighters album. Time for a tweeted first listen? Yeah! not done one since Bon Iver (who I forgot to name when reviewing).
I'm going to multitask. By the end of the eve I might even have another blog post done. Glastonbury Revisited.
"From somewhere high above the old hills of our home, Love will come to conquer" - I haven't even pressed play and this album has a message.
1st track "Solar System". Captivated and caught up in the bass. 60 seconds not yet gone. First impressions - Intelligent tribal dub. The first thing that stands out about this album is how well 'tribal' beats and dub step style bass can interplay. The effect of the vocals on this crystal fighters album is also entrancing. They make industrial tones sound much more organic. xtatic truth - this is the first song on the album I recognise.
I can sense Reggae undertones in the lead vocals... they could polarise.
Crystal Fighters - Champion Sound - to date I've only heard this on Jools. So far the recording is much more refined, softer and expressive.
after a down tempo song (that didn't rock my world) the beats back. Nice use of track contrast.
"At home" is pleasantly surprising. Considering my preconception as to what this album would hold, this album is more varied than expected.
Next track "I love London", you can tell it wasn't written over the last week, lets put it that way....
"Swallow" - I've been listening to this for months. Evidence that dub bass can fit and enhance more conventional song writing. Incredible.
Crystal fighters: "With You" - How indie synth heavy dance music should be? Definitely.
Into the acoustic bonus tracks. Pretty cool. The spanish language their guitars are speaking adds sunshine warmth missing on other tracks. Acoustic Version Espanyol - Me Gusta... Estupendo! Think I might actually be more in the mood for these acoustic tracks. As much as I love electro, its just not human.
I'm on the last track. The album has highs and lows. Definitely well intentioned, both in its sentiments and its musical ambitions. Not everything works, but not everything has to. It sets the ground work for some exciting concepts to be explored further. It also shows how timeless acoustic music is, and how no matter how inhuman a sound you can create, it can always be humanised. On the whole, a sterling record. It had lows, but the highs always help you forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment