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Joined : March 22, 2008
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Moody and somewhat dark electronic instrumentals featuring sampled drum loops and occasional spoken samples from a variety of sources. Rarely the overall mix seems to lose its cohesion and the simplicity of individual instruments were exposed. Its not loud and raucaus, it's dark and creative.
The first track is a beautiful composition with an evolving arrangement which combines a spiritual synthetic choir, powerful yet simple synthesizers (think Kraftwerk's Radioactivity), and soft electric guitar. The second track is a lovely melody which made me think of fantasy. Track three interleavees a speech by Terence McKenna (new age thinker & LSD advocate) which is poignant and works well with the music. Track four has a transcendental ambient feel and is also beautiful. William Elmore is quickly becoming one of my favourite artists and I'll finish the same way as another review, "This guy is talented".
Slow tempo and lovely arrangements featuring acoustic and electronic guitar combined with impressive synthetic elements. I don't feel that the electronic drums fit in comfortably with the hybrid sound as they're too clean and perfectly timed to mix with the latin feel of the album. The synthesizers, on the other hand, are quite beautifully, albeit unexpectedly, paired with the genre.
The lyrics of these pop songs are witty and clever while the brains continues often into the chord composition and as such number of songs are very enjoyable, my favourite being track 11. They remind me of Ray Davies (of The Kinks fame) later albums in the way they honestly deal with real-life situations through a perspective enhanced with humour. The recording quality could be improved, though the instrumental performance is solid and there are creative touches in the use of synthesized accompaniment.
I don't believe I've ever heard as much conviction in a voice or in a musical arrangement, an acoustic guitar, simple electronic strongs and an equally simply recorded voice of a man. Only on the technical side are these rough sketches, and the fact does not detract from these songs of sincerity, though an absence of digital clipping and more vocal definition has never hurt anyone. These songs are very low, thoughtful and humble, which is welcome when sincere and not entirely self-piteous. The compositions are, while not entirely dissonant, only include consonance to melodically carry them to the next sorrowful chord change.
A combination of ambient and minimalism/pseudo glitch. There are a lot of impressively creative details that can be missed when an album is as subtley mixed as this, though that is largely the charm of this album's style. It's both epic and small/extreme and modest.
First track has a full and involving trance sound, while the second has more of an electro beat mixed with samples of an eastern-sounding string instrument. Overall very tight and well produced.
This is a release of electronic instrumentals which for the most part did not become foreground listening, though were welcomed in the background as I studied. The tracks show promise, but I think there's a little room for improvement in the artist's control of the sound. My favourite is track 3, 'dance with the vibes'.
Tripas de la Miseria is full of retrospective pop songs often on the subject of dissatisfaction. The songwriting is varied and intelligent and reveals a strong talent. My favourites are the last two tracks. Track 9, 'Pop Song', has a great synth pop sound, while track 10, 'Sion', is a wonderfully composed somber number. For some strange reason track 1 and 4 are the same?
On the techincal side the synth bass employed sounds very dated, contrasts with the acoustic guitar and is sometimes mixed too loudly as in track two (I had to change to less bass-centric headphones to enjoy it).
These electronic instrumentals feature a wide variety of sounds in the style of electro and trance, but didn't always hit the musical spot. While sometimes the beat and accompaniment was a captivating fusion, at other times the album felt a little dull. Also the production could be a bit more refined and focused, though sometimes the mix was perfectly executed. Certainly an impressive range from one artist.
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