Thavius Beck - Dialogue [Album]

Big Dada

October 9, 2009, 10:44 PM

Views: 404   Comments: 2

Buy Thavius Beck - Dialogue [Album] From Amazon.com

Big Dada have recently become my favourite record label, releasing some of the most interesting and ground-breaking hip-hop of recent times. While not all of it is going to be the most palatable music in the world, the respect I have for both the label and the artists on the label grows with each new record I hear as they are trying to improve on what's already there. They experiment, they challenge and they are not content with producing the same things that everyone else is. Thavius Beck is no exception to this business plan, as "Dialogue" takes us across genres to electronica and at the same time produces a very intriguing and thought provoking sound.

"Dialogue"'s influence from electronic music isn't new, but I've never heard it taken to this extreme. Many of the backing tracks sound like Aphex Twin demos. These "beats" act as a comfort zone, which, when incorporated with the vocals creates this fascinating package and as the album progresses, I find myself repeatedly surprised with the way they devise this pairing of genres in ever more dramatic ways.

Sometimes I feel, though, that the album focuses more on the musical side of things and the vocals are left behind. A t times they fade into the background and become part of the overall noise that you hear and rather than shouting out and communicating the message in the words, I find that virtually none of the lyrics shine through and it no longer matters what is being said. The times that the message is prominent, they are very interesting and provide a commentary on a large variety of subjects and it's a shame that this is lost in parts during the album.

Thavius Beck has a rather conversational tone throughout most of the album. He's quietly discussing his views with you, as though you're actually in the same room as him. Instead of preaching his ideas at you, like quite a lot of hip-hop does, you feel as though he sees himself on the same level as you and doesn't patronize you in any way. Thavius Beck's articulation isn't the best and some of the enunciation is lost, leaving the message behind the words slightly behind.

The tracks where he does talk at the audience, rather than to them are, I feel, the worst on the album. They have a very rushed feel to them, with very few lyrics and a lot of repetition. They often have the most interesting music tracks, but also have the most pronounced vocals, riding over the music and ruining it, without adding any content, or creating any sort of interesting dynamic. It seems a bit backwards to me, that the tracks with the least interesting lyrics have the loudest vocals. The last 3 tracks, 'Sometimes.' 'Pressure' and '4 Part 2' seem as though they had a track that they wanted to use for the album, but didn't have any vocals to put on there, so they just threw something on, to fill the space until they had time to create something better, but just ran out of time and put the tracks out anyway. It's a real shame that the album ends on such a poor note, for me, as I really enjoyed a lot of it, but it ends so sourly that I come away with a more negative opinion than I would have, had the album been ended on 'Transmission' which, while it does have the repetitive vocals, they aren't nearly as prominent on the track, and thus tie in much better to the song.

Overall, the album is more interesting than good and I love to see people pushing the hip-hop genre forward. While there are things here that I don't think work, there's a lot of positive things that are very enjoyable.

#1 | Subscribe | Send to Friend | Print | Discipline | Report