James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream (Video)

I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to read that song title again with a straight face, after watching last week's episode of Archer - 'Wilhelm' is used to refer to penis.

James Blake's pretty great self-titled debut record drops next Tuesday, February 8.

Check out my review of it here.

James Blake - S/T Review

As a preface to this review, let me tell you that I am generally unfamiliar with the genre of music known as 'dubstep'.

Help me out, Wikipedia:

"Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South East London. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals."

Thanks, Wikipedia! Electronic artist James Blake released 3 EPs back in 2010 (all the way back!) that I understand are considered to be dubstep: The Bells Sketch, CMYK, and Klavierwerke. I would say they fit that description above pretty well.

In 2011, James Blake is ready to release a proper LP, and while his sound retains some elements of his previous work (I would say the tightly coiled productions and reverberation are definitely still here, and there is some 'clipping'), I'm not sure this quite qualifies as dubstep anymore. Vocals are no longer merely 'occasional' - he sings for most of the song, on every song.  So I'd say James is an artist who started off making dubstep, and is now moving on to make straight up pop music, keeping certain elements of his old style. Post-dubstep then? Possibly. I'll leave that up to the dubstep experts to decide.

James Blake (the album) is a very impressive debut of electronics-based arty pop music. A lot of these songs are slow and restrained, but without being boring. He uses fucking auto-tune and I don't despise it. That alone is an accomplishment.

01) Unluck
A slow tick-tocking beat starts us off. James starts crooning. He employs soulful white boy type vocals. And here comes the auto-tune! The simple beat is joined by a crescendo of electronic noises.

Repetition factors heavily into the James Blake sound. He'll repeat the same line over + over as the sound behind him changes it up.

James Blake - Limit to Your Love (Video)

James Blake

Not to be confused with the tennis player by the same name, that bro James Blake above is a British musician making some really interesting electronic music.

James Blake's self-titled debut LP does not 'officially' drop until 2011, but I've listened to it several times now, and damn...it's good.

I generally consider auto-tune to be a crime against music, but James uses it in...unexpected ways. Different ways. I'm amazed that it's not lame. James also uses various electronic sounds to great effect - some of which sound like an old Nintendo Entertainment System game, and I love that shit.

I need to listen to this some more to truly form my opinion, but James Blake is definitely worth checking out. I had never heard of this guy up until a week ago, but apparently he released 3 EPs in 2010. The EPs do not feature Blake's soulful white boy vocals (think Bon Iver), but they're pretty sweet too.

James Blake tracklisting:

01) Unluck
02) The Wilhelm Scream
03) I Never Learnt To Share
04) Lindesfarne I
05) Lindesfarne II
06) Limit To Your Love
07) Give Me My Month
08) To Care (Like You)
09) Why Don’t You Call Me
10) I Mind
11) Measurements