Siriusmo - Mosaik (2011)

For many years Siriusmo has been making EP’s and 7” around in different labels, and the display of variety making remixes or original material display not only versatility but also great creativity. When judging a DJ’s work, creativity has a heavy influence and the other important aspect is the capacity of mixing different stuff and its here when Siriusmo does it best. Like some of the Ed Banger label, more hard edge DJ’s have been following the path of labels fronted by other respectable DJ’s like Apparat, Ellen Allien and Modeselektor, the last one making the record label that signed Siriusmo (Monkey Town Label).

Siriusmo has the kind of creative freedom and independence that allows him to push the music to different levels, highly experimental DJ’s take sounds from jazz, pop or rock and turn them to eccentric sounds, such as Mr. Oizo that refuses to be normal but makes very catchy strange mixes, some of that is present in Siriusmo, but he shows less commitment to the genres and does whatever the mix is telling him to do, so there are times you can flow from hip hop to ambient, from hardcore metallic drums to abrupt silence in a distinctive dub beat, from minimal to IDM, and the journey goes on, making Siriusmo a pariah of electronic music that deserve acknowledgement from the public.

In terms of the concept regarding the album, the title is pretty much self explanatory, is a Mosaik of everything he’s done over the years, you can find songs from the early EP’s to the newer ones and exciting new songs, this leaves the LP kind of messy as an entire concept, also there are too many songs, with acid hardcore metallic sounds and experimental loops of everything that can get a little over the place, for someone getting into Siriusmo it can get a little bit overwhelming, and that is a downside because after falling in love with the chaotic cohesive sound he delivered on EP’s like “The Uninvited Guest” I feel that it looses quality to have a little bit of everything to understand the genius.

Still is one of the most anticipated hardcore electronic albums I’ve waited for a long time and though the expectation can kill it still stands up above everything else because of its originality, also it has a moment for everything remembering sounds of party, and also hardcore hip hop acid stuff, and the usual chilled dance song. It has a little bit of everything and the mess gets completely justified with the cover art and the name of the LP, is doesn’t have the intention to have a cohesive sound or a coherent concept. Mosaik is a Hot Mess!

Tracklist:

1. High Together (Album Version)
2. Feromonikon (CD Edit)
3. Sirimande
4. Call Me
5. Mosaik
6. Bad Idea
7. Lass Den Vogel Frei!
8. 123 (Album Version)
9. Idiologie
10. Einmal In Der Woche Schreien
11. Good Idea
12. Nights Off
13. Peeved
14. Feed My Meatmachine
15. Goldene Kugel
16. Signal
17. Red Knob

Rate: 7.4/10
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James Blake - James Blake (2011)

To survive, music genres stick to other sounds, they evolve and turn themselves into other thing they weren’t before, on this note its logical that a genre so popular in the past like R&B evolved into new sounds and new forms of experimentation, that’s how in 2010 not only did Lo-Fi projects like How To Dress Well started creating a notoriety towards .R&B in the indie scene, but also started putting an end to the prejudice for some years I feel everyone has been putting to the genre.

I remember loving R&B even before loving hip hop, artists like Erykah Badu, Sade, Lauryn Hill or R. Kelly had this sort of pure vibe of hip hop but apparently that got old and R&B started to mix with pop, and some of them were nice, like Justin Timberlake bringing sexy back, but the thing is that R&B up until How To Dress Well was losing its appeal to the indie and underground movements, somehow it became too mainstream.

With the mainstream appeal of R&B is no wonder that Dub Step have had such a fast and consolidated growth the last years, and I say Dub Step because it doesn’t have the hip hop beats, and it kind of sounds like hip hop sometimes but has a bit more soul and rhythm, just like R&B, that’s why for some it might be a surprise to listen the new James Blake for some, if How To Dress Well was the R&B Lo-Fi attempt of R&B lacking production, James Blake is the sublimation of the sound.

Some songs recall sounds of Bon Iver and have a very experimental and ethereal edge abruptly interrupted by walls of sound and distortions of different kinds, also the most amazing surprise is that this UK DJ now sings and boy what a voice, the series of EP’s he had released last year capture his ability to create an atmosphere, his ability to make echo, void, emotions into sound with very few lyrics and voices, and for this LP the voice is used as one port part of the intentional atmosphere.

Some are saying that it lacks a concept, that is just a display of well produced sounds and that James Blake fans will say things like “you’re missing the concept dude…you just don’t get it”, my saying goes beyond…what is it to get? Why does it need to have a concept when what’s on display has enough quality to make you fall deeply in love with it, if so, the emotions and free interpretations are what this LP is all about, amazingly good echoes, amazing vertigo playing with silence and sounds, really good intervention of a really amazing vocals and even some piano ballads.

This is yet another amazing album of 2011, and if things keep going this way we’ll have a milestone in music history…the year is starting and there is still more to come.

Tracklist:

1. Unluck
2. Wilhelms Scream
3. I Never Learnt To Share
4. Lindesfarne I
5. Lindesfarne II
6. Limit To Your Love
7. Give Me My Month
8. To Care (Like You)
9. Why Don't You Call Me
10. I Mind
11. Measurements

Rate: 9/10

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