Title: Fallen Clouds
Artist: Tapage
Genre: Electronica
Release Date: 20th April 2009
Label: Tympanik Audio
Album Review
Once the TAPAGE debut album was released last year and first reviews of the disc popped up it became clearly apparent that ‘The Institute of Random Events’ was going to become one of those notorious love-hate releases where you either completely fall in love with the cuts on it or hate it forever. My guess for the new album ‘Fallen Clouds’ is that it’s sadly going to share its fate as the Dutch artist doesn’t even dream of changing or adapting his brand to please as much critics or fans as possible and personally I think many artists should follow the lead.
But THAT is another story so let’s now start digging into a couple tracks on ‘Fallen Clouds’ commencing with the opener ‘Ith’ coming across like he’s booting all gear and then after some starting problems the engine starts running at full swing, meshing overlapping, slick patterns with lush ringing pads to complement them. The follow-up track ‘Drain The Clouds’ kicks it off with a few atypically straight rhythms that later on fade into a seemingly random cascade of beats hooked up to each other and pushed through a glitch field but that’s his specialty. It all just appears to be random and if you dig a little deeper the real ingenuity behind this structure will come to you. At first, only airy atmospheres float through ‘Nail Cut’ but then the beat winds up and develops and the track ends up being the most straight-forward one on the album with a bass drum that has it in itself. For a good half of its duration ‘Notbremse’ is a beautiful melange of minor yet deep layers; then beats and rhythms begin forming and add up to a cunning array.
‘ML7W’ whatever that’s supposed to mean, is among my favourites filled with the most beautiful string arrangement and bell-like melodies covering rhythmical movements crafted with an almost clinical precision yet the passion put into creating them shimmers through at every time and is another point addicting one to this tune. ‘Fallen Clouds’ is a step up the evolutional ladder for TAPAGE in pushing his sound into new sonic dimensions without cutting off the roots. The only complaint one can make about this one is certain songs you just can’t come to like.
Tracklist
01. Ith - 2:43
02. Drain the Clouds - 3:57
03. Oppose - 5:39
04. Nail Cut - 4:54
05. Short Dresses - 4:20
06. Notbremse - 4:52
07. Cancelling Unlisted Time - 4:09
08. Clap Retrial - 5:20
09. Oval Shaped Square - 3:38
10. Dark Clouds Adrift - 2:59
11. Flap Fish - 3:56
12. ML7W - 2:40
13. Low Volt - 4:51
14. The Silent Hours - 5:40
15. Laboratory Panic Advice - 4:36
16. What I Wish Upon None - 3:23
Line-up
T. Ham – All Music, Production
Website
http://www.myspace.com/odakim
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 10
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10
{jos_sb_discuss:19}
Comments powered by CComment