"This album is like a trip through the decades. A history lesson in music..."
Django Django - Marble Skies
Label: Because Music
Release Date: January 26th, 2018
Review Date: January 27th, 2018
Track Count: 10
Run Time: 40 minutes
Overview
I'm loving this wave of modern Psychedelia that's coming out at the moment and Django Django's latest album, Marble Skies fits really nicely into that. I like the vintage, analogue sound to the overall production, and the casual slurring and sliding between notes in the vocal lines goes a long way to adding to the overall spacey feeling.
There are some moments I think I'd change compositionally; for instance, I'm not sure how I feel about the change in chord sequence (from major to minor) going into the pre-chorus/chorus in Surface to Air (feat. Self Esteem). It seems to me to be a far too predictable/easy choice harmonically and, when put into context with the rest of the album, feels out of place and it stands out like a sore thumb. It doesn't sound bad, I just don't think it works particularly well and I feel like the track loses its edge because of it. As a result, I think this is the weakest track on the album. Which is a shame because it's the only collaboration, and Self Esteem's vocals are really strong and sit really well in the arrangement.
But don't let that stop you from listening to the other nine tracks. They are really good! The album, in general, has some really nice variation as it moves forward. There's a good mixture of some really nice heavy and some other more floaty moments. We're not just kept at the same level from track to track which, as you'll probably know if you've read any of my previous reviews, I'm always really keen to see.
Today's Gems
Follow the playlist here
- Tic Tac Toe
- Further
- Sundials
- Real Gone
1. Tic Tac Toe
- Speeds up the pacing nicely after the slightly laid back previous track.
- Almost punk rhythms going on in the drums/rhythm section, but with psychedelic harmonies and melody lines. Really nice juxtaposition here.
- I like the broken down chorus/build, it gives some really nice space for the vocal harmonies to come through and take the focus a bit more.
- I like the short vocal sample at the end.
2. Further
- Starts almost blues-like.
- Reminds me of Tame Impala and The Black Keys.
- The pre-chorus is very reminiscent of The Beach Boys.
- Spaghetti Western sound in the outro, very nice. Nice whistling in the background.
3. Sundials
- I like the intro. You spend most of it trying to count and work out where the 1 is.
- Nice piano tone. Really solid, driving it home.
- Bass compliments it really nicely.
- This track feels the most like it's from the late 60s/early 70s to me so far.
- Really cool clarinet line. Not something I was expecting.
- I like how the track fades out into chaos at the end.
4. Real Gone
- I like the slightly randomised feeling of the sawtooth synth sound.
- Everything feels very loose and then the kick kicks in (no pun intended) and suddenly we're grounded in the rhythm of the track.
- I like how the synth hook jumps between bass and lead registers.
- It really peaked my interest when the arrangement fell back and focus was drawn really nicely to the vocal lines when they came in.
- Techno/House/EDM rhythm section with some beautiful psychedelic melodic/harmonic ideas. Sounds like a remix of an obscure track from the late 60s. Works really nicely.
- This track really caught my attention.
Conclusion
This album is like a trip through the decades. A history lesson in music. We start in the 80s, then we're thrown back and forth to the 60s, the 70s, back to the 60s then back to the 80s again. Throughout all of it, we're treated to some really good modern takes on some classic sounds. I hear The Who, The Zombies and The Beatles; RnB, Punk, Synth Wave and Psychedelia, with some awesome deserty guitar tones thrown in for good measure.
Would I recommend it? Definitely, yes! I think this is a really well-crafted album. I might recommend that people skip track 2, but 9/10 ain't bad! However, that's only personal taste, you might disagree and it might be your favourite track. Either way, I'd say this is definitely worth a go. Good job!
As you may or may not have noticed, I'm running slightly behind on these reviews due to being AFK for a couple of days. I've stuck to listening to a new album every day, I am currently just playing catch up on the write-ups, so watch this space...
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