Tag Archives: ghostly international
Michna – Magic Monday (Music Review)
Michna
Magic Monday
Ghostly International
Rating: 3 out of 5
Michna’s debut album is filled with urban soundscapes and experimental Hip Hop. Adrian Michna builds a collage of groove-based beats and expansive sampling that represents location and space and the elements of the city that influence us day to day.
Michna spent time in the metropolitan chaos of New York City and the tropical sun city of Miami. Blending both emotions of two completely different cities, Michna does a great job at combining the two without sounding too tropicalia or urban break beat.
Even though Magic Monday is an accessible release and many times very easy, there are few moments where you ears really perk up and endulge in the vibe Michna gives out.
Songs like “Swiss Glide” is a highlight and reminds me of why I like people like DJ Shadow so much. Feeding in sounds of skateboards bring in cool head-nodding beats and smooth sounds, all led out by the sound of a subway train leaving the station.
The other thing Michna does so well is his downtempo work, better heard beyond Magic Monday and on his EP work.
Even with all of this, there are times when Michna still feels new to what he does even though he’s been a DJ for years, making Magic Monday, as pleasing as the album is, not seem like a complete representation as to what Michna is really capable of.
Links:
Michna on Ghostly International: http://ghostly.com/artists/michna
Michna on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/michna
Choir Of Young Believers – This Is For The White In Your Eyes (Music Review)
Choir Of Young Believers
This Is For The White In Your Eyes
Ghostly International
Rating: 3 out of 5
It starts out like the opening scene from Donnie Darko, where the breaking of the dawn leaves the mountain scenery a calming experience, albeit slightly haunting. There is an underlying feeling that peace and happiness is not the central theme of this experience but turmoil and turbulence is not either. The Choir of Young Believers create this balance between natural beauty and lonely realization much like what goes on in Steve Kilbey’s mind.
Minimal piano gives Danish singer/songwriter Jannis Noya Makrigiannis a palette to paint an impressionistic introduction, filling you with wondrous anticipation. By the time the band tires of subtle accents, they blow the cover like a Sergio Leone film, using sound as depth and a musical landscape that is wide open. It’s a beautiful composition that sets the stage for a mix-and-match album that has This Is For The White In Your Eyes burning both hot and cold.
Moving on, “Next Summer” is more of the same with the elongated introduction, but slightly askewed when they keep the dynamics down to simple pop orchestral movements.
“Action/Reaction” is a hip, new take on an old pop-rock structure that is filled with ‘90s alterna-pop big hooks. It serves as a lush and powerful standout track even though it doesn’t really even fit in with the rest of the album, which makes the transition into “Under The Moon” hard to swallow.
Then there are several songs that would be better served as transition pieces (“Wintertime Love” and “Claustrophobia”) than full-length songs that feel stretched out and wear on the listener. And it’s not that Makrigiannis has to be on all of the time, his exploratory compositions are a growing attribute often times make up for the length and fits in wonderfully with his ideology of the music.
And the finale of the album, “Yamagata,” feel as captivating as the beginning with a loop of piano chords fading out the album into what feels like mystic folklore.
