Infraction
'Ownliness' sounds like an experiment of sorts. Most all of the tracks are built upon looping rhythms and repeating phrases of simple melody. The album begins with a sampled loop that could be ethnic percussion as easily as it could be the sound of someone scraping a stick down a flight of stairs. More rhythms and a melody slip into the mix and then disappear into the looped field recording ambience of "With Anna You Get Eggroll," which later becomes a kind of psuedo-trip hop number. Sometimes the repetition manifests itself as full-on beats and songs, and other times, it simply serves as a cadence that roots the wandering tones and abstract noises like a ballast. In its more obscure moments, 'Ownliness' finds a balance between wandering and reflecting that allows the simple repetition and the experimental pallete to elevate the compositions into something complex enough to warrant repeated listens. In its more direct moments, the album sounds a bit like experimental guitarists trying to adopt a style or groove to their own way of working, and it is in these moments that the album doesn't always measure up. There's nothing embarassing about the songs that are more obviously structured, but they play into a stereotype of slow, manipulated drum loops and painfully simple melodies that never allow the repetition to transcend into something more. The layered melodies are sometimes bogged down by a breakbeat that seems out of place in a sea of otherwise strange and unidentifiable sounds. Still, it's highly listenable and would probably make a great primer for someone who is interested in experimental instrumental music but is afraid to stray too far from the beat-oriented songs with which they are more comfortable. By the time the soft guitar and harmonics of the last two tracks are over, I'm waiting for another track, which is always the sign of a record worth keeping.
'Ownliness' sounds like an experiment of sorts. Most all of the tracks are built upon looping rhythms and repeating phrases of simple melody. The album begins with a sampled loop that could be ethnic percussion as easily as it could be the sound of someone scraping a stick down a flight of stairs. More rhythms and a melody slip into the mix and then disappear into the looped field recording ambience of "With Anna You Get Eggroll," which later becomes a kind of psuedo-trip hop number. Sometimes the repetition manifests itself as full-on beats and songs, and other times, it simply serves as a cadence that roots the wandering tones and abstract noises like a ballast. In its more obscure moments, 'Ownliness' finds a balance between wandering and reflecting that allows the simple repetition and the experimental pallete to elevate the compositions into something complex enough to warrant repeated listens. In its more direct moments, the album sounds a bit like experimental guitarists trying to adopt a style or groove to their own way of working, and it is in these moments that the album doesn't always measure up. There's nothing embarassing about the songs that are more obviously structured, but they play into a stereotype of slow, manipulated drum loops and painfully simple melodies that never allow the repetition to transcend into something more. The layered melodies are sometimes bogged down by a breakbeat that seems out of place in a sea of otherwise strange and unidentifiable sounds. Still, it's highly listenable and would probably make a great primer for someone who is interested in experimental instrumental music but is afraid to stray too far from the beat-oriented songs with which they are more comfortable. By the time the soft guitar and harmonics of the last two tracks are over, I'm waiting for another track, which is always the sign of a record worth keeping. samples:
Read More
