We're New Here - Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

 My Cloud - Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx

Runs for: 4:33

I'll sum it up below. There's something interesting and maybe groundbreaking here...

This one here scored album of the year in the mind of one of my good mates. We were having a beer or 4 at a pub in Hobart and upon returning to my home, I realised I had the album and might as well give it a spin.

What do I make of this album? The vocals are pretty sweet, deep, and have a very jazz/blues/spoken word vibe to it, making this album an interesting fusion of both that element and house music. The drums and drops are pretty decent, and get stronger as some tracks go along which sets a bit of a mood.

I guess what I don’t like about this album is that for the earlier parts of it, it’s just too slow. Some of the songs (Running) will take a long time to build up and peter out too quickly when the climax is reached. These earlier parts seem to be trying to set up a funk, but it’s not something that me as a listener can connect with. Tracks like this pop up a few more times. Sometimes, though he nails it and creates some really decent atmospheric tracks with dirty as shit sounds behind it – NY is killing me being a good example of this. These problems might simply boil down to taste though. I typically like my tracks either energetic, evocative or atmospheric and this album kind of evades what I’ve come to normally expect in house music.

There are other instances where the vocals bring to a head a strong, climatic feel, which perfects the fusion I was talking about previously. My Cloud is a great example of this. Good drums, bass, and those jazz/blues vocals floating over it turns what would have been a simple chilled house track into a proper song. It feels like it’s pushing a genre, a genius combination that should have been put forward before… maybe it has, I’m not sure… but it seems like a clever progression to create a song that can both have the electronic emphasis of house music with soulful and more traditional vocals – rather than the usual house method of just chucking in a woman singing the same lines over or a guy with vocal effects repeating a couple of phrases.

Outside of this, some of the drums and electronic work are slightly reminiscent of Radiohead’s more experimental work and I think listening closely, that should be apparent to most listeners. I say this mainly because the drums are snappy and have a certain click to it which feel very familiar, along with some of the floatier synths.

Overall I think the best way to describe this album would be ‘unconventional’. I don’t think it’s bad at all – it’s boundary breaking in places and I live for that - but I don’t know if I like it. I try my best to enjoy most styles of music, and while there’s definitely something here, I don’t think there’s enough for me personally to put this as an album I’d be listening to frequently. Still though it’s definitely got a good feel to it. Anyone who’s big on garage or dub should be pretty big on this album I believe.