Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers (Hotflush Recordings 2010) [Vinyl | Digital]
The U.K. society of bass stretches far beyond the bounds of audible range; one can rummage through countless tunes, sub-genres and genres until the brain just shuts down from low-frequency exhaustion. It’s a fruitful time for sure, as we have artists like Mount Kimbie providing a sound that’s so natural and so organic to their musical climate that people get drawn in and never come out thinking about music the same way. The duo of Dom Maker and Kai Campos have been releasing tunes since 2008, forging a relationship with the bass community and beyond. Their most well-known tune, “Maybes”, stunned people from every continent and proved that Mount Kimbie was a sound that wasn’t particularly stuck to one genre. Dark, inviting and enticing all at once, they continued to make tunes, unassuming of the hype that would build up towards their first album release. Enter July 2010, and Hotflush Recordings have graced us with one of the best albums of the year so far, Crooks & Lovers, an enduring journey that’s more than what one would expect from up-and-coming electronic producers.
The album starts off with a tone that’s similar to a train leaving the station in a hurry but then is taken over by a guitar and a child-like vocal sample. “Tunnelvision” is the starter that pretty much sets the table for the journey one takes in listening, as chopped and filtered percussion go between synth notes, guitar notes and vocals (presumably from Kimbie collaborator James Blake). The next tune takes the familiar tonality of previous Kimbie records and spins it into a grainy, dissipating struggle between ambience and notation. Cut-up samples, plopped bass tones and a rhythm that stays in your head for ages, “Would Know” is a perfect trip between positive and negative energies that lead to an ultimately satisfactory purgatory of cloudiness. The next few tracks, “Before I Move Off” and “Blind Night Errand” find a light in the cloudiness, providing contrasting ideas within their audible context but ultimately leading to the gorgeousness of the guitar chords of “Adriatic”. A simplistic tunes of minimal electronics, guitar, handclaps and somewhat-satisfying scat vocals, the short and sweet tune provides a look beyond bass for the duo and more towards the aspect that the Kimbie boys are songwriters and not just producers.
The next track is undeniably a bumpin’ one; “Carbonated” is similar to what you would hear on the intelligent and welcoming dancefloors of London town, expecting invigorating rhythms and cut-up RnB vocal samples. The chords, lush and lamenting, sound like the doing of James Blake, who we don’t know had officially worked on this album. No matter, because it’s a great tune that finds ways to tug at the heartstrings and provide a beat amongst its doing. Again, the next two tracks are complete contrasts of one another; “Ruby” being a dark and dusty walk amongst town drones and “Ode to Bear” being a tale of a long night, being a bit chipper in the beginning and going closer to the grain of bass-filled blues by the end of tune. The following tune might be the most intriguing on the record, as “Field” is a journey that must’ve taken place during an acid trip gone wrong, waiting for it to disperse and longing for a clear-headed viewpoint. Once the madness disperses, the guitar comes out to hopefully shake off the chemically-induced cobwebs and look towards the sun and start the day fresh once again. The final two tracks, “Mayor” and “Between Time” follow the formula of the record, be drastically different. The former, is a bouncy affair between keyboard jumpiness and high-pitched vocal cuts and bumping bass, with the occasional strike of a modular synth in the mix. “Between Time” is the excellent closer of the record, depicting the long journey back from a night on the town, whether it be the moody vocals or bass tones that will make you want to revisit Unknown Pleasures, it’s the perfect way to close out a record that’s full of everything one could expect.
While Crooks & Lovers isn’t close to a perfect record, it’s nothing short of a brilliant debut for Mount Kimbie. Alluding to their love of indie bands, hip-hop and current U.K. bass music, the duo invites us to the world of London from the eyes and ears of people, places and things they hold dear. Honest, humbling and heart-warming at times, Crooks & Lovers is an essential record to pick up in 2010.
Stream “Mayor” below and make sure you check them out October 1st at The Bunker in Brooklyn.
Mount Kimbie – Mayor
