Ibibio Sound MachineHighlife
Who is William Onyeabor? The mysterious figure that totally and utterly transformed African pop music in the 70s, and more so the 80s, has had a sort of boom in modern Western music, thanks in part to an insanely bold choice by--eww--Apple to include his song "Fantastic Man" in a commercial. The song became so popular from that alone that it became an actual charted hit...38 years after it came out.
Now, William Onyeabor passed before the song ever made it anywhere, but by all accounts he lived in self-imposed isolation having found an entirely different path in life. But it is fun to think that while we usually think of non-Western countries being decades behind the US/Europe in their musical taste (e.g., disco being popular in...ahem...East Germany in the late 80s and 90s), this time WE were behind, just now finding popular a song from Nigeria decades after the man who wrote it retired from public life.
This is all to say that the journey of where Ibibio Sound Machine derives their incredibly unique sound begins with the inventive and, honestly, insane sounds of an electro-funk master from 70s Nigeria. Of course, even calling the band IBIBIO Sound Machine is detailing their roots, Ibibio being a language spoken primarily in Nigeria, and many of singer Eno Williams' lyrics are in that language.
Over the course of three albums, Ibibio Sound Machine has fine-tuned a musical quality that can only be called a time machine. The highly processed synths repeat like something from Human League and the use of live percussion and "cheap" drum machines recalls the very best of Lipps, Inc. (like, the one song; you know the one I mean).
The band's self-titled debut really laid the effect on thick, which made for a more novel listening experience than a truly compelling one. 2017's Uyai was a revelation, brightening the production and bringing the Onyeabor influences into the harsh fluorescent light. But this album, Doko Mien, this is the culmination of getting all the ingredients to the witch's brew just right.
Doko Mien transitions from Afro-beat to Italo-disco to new wave to electro-funk to soul so fast and so seamlessly that it blisters the skin; all the while Eno Williams sings so beautifully in two languages that you're brought to the heights of human emotion.
The songwriting is catchy and highly complex, leaving no one wanting. Whether they are creating a ballad like "I Know That You're Thinking About Me", a dance floor banger like "Tell Me (Doko Mien)", or even a soundscape interlude like "I Will Run", ISM have clearly put the work in to make sure every detail is exactly right.
It's rare to witness perfection, but when you do, you never forget. This is a band at the peak.
Cows on Hourglass Pond
Neofolk
An admission: I have always been slightly fascinated by the various solo careers from the members of Animal Collective. Obviously, Panda Bear is the one most people are immediately familiar with, as he was the most successful out of the gate. And if we all can't admit to ourselves that Person Pitch was secretly the best album of the 2000s, then we just live in a grand delusion.
Avey Tare (real name: David Michael Portner) is the other member of the Collective to venture into solo territory, though it could be said that's unnecessary since he's the primary songwriter of Animal Collective's output. And with Cows on Hourglass Pond, that connection becomes more obvious than ever.
Much of Cows on Hourglass Pond sounds like Merriweather Post Pavilion and Centipede Hz outtakes and b-sides. These are literally indistinguishable from Animal Collective songs. Even his more experimental turns, like the incredibly glitchy "Nostalgia in Lemonade", are familiar territory. And when it's not Animal Collective he's evoking, there's such a strong Atlas Sound influence that no one could blame you if you mistook this for Logos Part 2.
That said, I feel like this review is skewing negative, when in reality it's anything but. To be honest, I think Atlas Sound owes more to Avey Tare and Animal Collective than the other way around, and to be brutally honest, this is the best thing to come out of that group OR any of the members' solo projects in ten years.
Cows on Hourglass Pond is interesting. For the first time in a long time, Tare is involved with something interesting. The sonic choices, production, songwriting--they're all well above average, and they combine for an album that genuinely intriguing and might not only require multiple listens to "get", but will also make those re-listens enjoyable. It's well-paced, composed, and varied.
I only wish more people would make interesting music.
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