Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Kelley Polar - Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens
A new acquisition this month, and my most listened-to record of February-March, so I finally feel able to write about it. Too hip to be downtempo, too funky to be electro, too electro to be funk, Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens sounds like an energized and danceable cousin of Nightmare on Wax's Carboot Soul. I love Carboot Soul, and a lot of the same elements--such as the interplay of strings and synths, torchy vocals, a dash of funk, and a sheen of cool--are present in Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens. But there's more funk, more cool, and a bit of a jazzy feel. There's also more variety in the vocals, which on several songs use a female vocalist for a smooth groove. On many others, like "Matter into Energy," Kelley sings himself, and his voice, with the synth-based swirl of melody behind it gives the songs a quality that is simultaneously subdued, wiry, and wary--much like the male vocals of an album by The Residents, but without disturbing the poppy crawl or thump of the composition. It's all very smoothly produced and eminently listenable, its layers and textures unfurling through repeated spins. A really fantastic album, and just the thing for when I'll be in my shiny silver-chrome spaceship, hurtling toward the Horsehead Nebula at near-lightspeed, and looking for some party-starting music for my glitzy, afro-sporting androids.
My Swans obsession reasserted itself in the new music selections this month, which included:
Jarboe: Thirteen Masks (Fantastic)
Jarboe: Beautiful People, Ltd. (Marvelous and different [what could one expect?] but it wears a bit toward the end of the album when one gets to the mix tracks)
Jarboe: Anhedoniac (Haven't listened yet)
The Clientele: Strange Geometry (A bit disappointed initially, though I need to give it a couple more listens to decide for sure what I think)
Opeth: The Ghost Reveries (Simply brilliant)
Hatesex: Unwant (ElectroGoth, and just what one might expect--chilly and subdued guitars, distant vocals, and plenty of aggression, with a great mix of female and male vocals. May review this one later, as it's quite good and deserves to be heard for those who are into that sort of thing.)
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting at the moment, as well, but what're you going to do?
My Swans obsession reasserted itself in the new music selections this month, which included:
Jarboe: Thirteen Masks (Fantastic)
Jarboe: Beautiful People, Ltd. (Marvelous and different [what could one expect?] but it wears a bit toward the end of the album when one gets to the mix tracks)
Jarboe: Anhedoniac (Haven't listened yet)
The Clientele: Strange Geometry (A bit disappointed initially, though I need to give it a couple more listens to decide for sure what I think)
Opeth: The Ghost Reveries (Simply brilliant)
Hatesex: Unwant (ElectroGoth, and just what one might expect--chilly and subdued guitars, distant vocals, and plenty of aggression, with a great mix of female and male vocals. May review this one later, as it's quite good and deserves to be heard for those who are into that sort of thing.)
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting at the moment, as well, but what're you going to do?
