Joakim - Milky Ways [Album]

!K7

October 7, 2009, 05:53 PM

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Seriously I'm at a loss. Where do I start with this? It starts on the opening 'Back To Wilderness' as drone-rock fed through a carnival of cheap synths and by track 2 'Ad Me', it has morphed almost effortlessly into odd-ball disco. There is so much going on at any one time it's hard to know exactly where to focus ones attention. The vocals (what little there are anyway) are vocoded beyond recognition and don't seem to follow any discernible melody line and the beats veer wildly from fixed funk beats to chaotic jazz-infused breakdowns. The one remaining constant is the mesh of synths, all of which sound like they have been dialled in on a synthesizer old enough to have given birth to Kraftwerk. Frankly Joakim's third album is a mess, but it's a glorious mess.

The album sifts through a multitude of styles and moods like a gaseous haze, constantly sounding like circus music on nitrous. Everything from rock, techno, disco and pop to psychedelia and prog is explored, taken apart and re-imagined as something complex, aurally inviting and strangely organic. In order we are taken through drone-rock / disco / funk / electronica / lo-fi indie / avant-garde / synth pop / post-rock / 80's post-punk and psychadelia. All in one album that amazingly manages to remain coherent throughout.

The glue that holds the songs together (and keeps this sounding like the work of one man) are the synth's. The synthesizer sounds themselves are simple and largely unaffected (as are the melodies) with the rhythm track providing the main focal point of most songs. It's an interesting use of synthesizer as texture that goes against the current trend for cheesy, obvious and 80's indebted keyboard sounds. There are also touches of madness (such as the intermittent bursts of distortion on 'Fly Like An Apple' or the cosmic squelches on the otherwise serene Mogwai on acidness of 'King Kong Is Dead') that might in lesser hands cause songs to fall apart, in Joakim's obviously skilled hands though the madness becomes less daunting and more endearing.

We're introduced to conventional vocals occasionally too, as in 'Spiders' which is possibly the most immediate offering of the bunch with it's massed harmonies and psychedelic atmosphere recalling the stranger end of Animal Collectives' catalogue. The spattering of synth patterns here sound like raindrops pounding against speaker cones and the whole thing shifts gears dramatically once the sparse, funk-rock guitar fades into the mix half way through. It would seem that Joakim is more interested in texture and 'vibe' than conventional rhythm or melody and it's an ethos that pays off but may alienate casual listeners, however there is no doubt in my mind that this music was not made with casual listeners in mind. Almost every song here seems to be built up of a countless number of layers which are brought in and out of the mix seemingly at random. This has the effect of leaving most songs without an overriding identity and as such it plays more like a quirky DJ set than a traditional album, that isn't necessarily a bad thing but it can be overwhelming.

'Glossy Papers' further complicate matters with it's funeral pace, cheeky horn stabs and (one would hope) deliberately off-key vocals. It's a song which sounds completely drained and hopeless up until an outro which brings back the doomy, distorted guitars from the albums opener, amazingly it works. This is before we even begin to explore the albums melancholic closer 'Little Girl,' a lush, melancholic soundscape that sounds like Throbbing Gristle gone ambient.

Joakim's bizarre collection is a record that will keep you guessing at every turn. If Animal Collective's "Post Weather Pavilion" really got your juices flowing earlier this year I couldn't recommend Joakim's 'Milky Ways' strongly enough.

Tracklisting:-

1. Back To Wilderness
2. Ad Me
3. Fly Like An Apple
4. Spiders
5. Glossy Papers
6. Medusa
7. Love & Romance & A Special Person
8. King Kong Is Dead
9. Travel In Vain
10. Little Girl

Recommended:-

Back To Wilderness/Spiders/Love & Romance & A Special Person/King Kong Is Dead/Little Girl

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