Candied Pop

Grinding out under fluorescent lights there are times when you need a hitch in your step en route to the water cooler and the belief that you are the last hope for the streets. Unagi serves up that fantasy with the sleazy camp of Keepin’ It Eel where the sound is drenched in early 80’s Soul, Funk and Hip Hop that has been chopped up and glued back together like a ransom letter your kid brother would send you over your G.I. Joes. It helps to think of Unagi as the younger sibling to DJ Shadow; where Shadow is studious and often filled with gravitas, Unagi is playful, leaping about the cultural landscape of late night television with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

Keepin It Eel is an album to laugh with, not that it is one long running joke but in that it drops cultural references faster than you can pick them up and it helps that the album is technically solid and does not play like an amateur mashup. “Roper Golf Pro” sees the unlikely pairing of a jaunty piano line swinging and swaying only to be interrupted by a weepy string line that sounds as if it was lifted from a Hart To Hart TV movie and while that reads like a weak arrangement it actually creates kitschy sort of tension that works. the album is full of those moments like the opening moments of “Condorman’s Revenge” and its overblown sax line dramatically declaring that it owns the song only to have the snap and pop of the bass line send it back to vamping.

Sometimes music needs to be fun and that is exactly what Keepin It Eel is and while it can make you laugh and smile it is by no means just a one shot novelty the album has legs. Unagi has some free tracks over at his website including four from this album for your listening pleasure.  Give it a shot and put a little swing in your swagger.

Each year there comes along an album that defines summer for me, last year it was the wild street party atmosphere of Yerba Buena’s Island Life but this year summer will be taking a slower turn through the year as Bibio’s sublime Hand Cranked floats gently out of my headphones. This is about the best example of introspective bedroom music that can be found in that the work is contemplative, sincere, and unafraid of the occasional fumbled note. Hand Cranked is genuine which is something missing in today’s deluge of pre-made and heavily packaged music industry.

On his second album Wilkinson, the man behind Bibio, provides a work of delicate charm where the dominant sound is acoustic guitars that are layered, sampled, and processed to create new voicings. He treats the guitar as a palette with which he can aural landscapes such as on “The Cranking Mouse” opening with the chime like sounds of the strings on the head stock being plucked haltingly as a winds of static blusters in the background gives a whimsical feel and imparts a feeling of windup toys tottering about. “Back Country Blue” drifts in ethereally by his use of backwards tracks the slowly billow like sheets in a light breeze.

Not all of the album is experimental in nature as some tracks scale back the playfulness to assume a more traditional approach. “Cherry Go Round”, while making liberal use of tape effects, is a plucky folk number where the main melody dances about being supported by a wheezy squeezebox like accompaniment and mischievous recorders blowing a simple counterpoint. It is by far one of my favorite pieces on the album for its lightness and playful demeanor truly capture overall feeling of the album.

Hand Cranked is one of my favorite albums to date and is very likely going to remain on heavy rotation as summer slowly creeps its way through New England. Wilkinson’s use of found sounds, water and birds, with his unabashed guitar playing and adeptness in the studio make for an album that distills the essence of lazy summer afternoons. Highly recommended.