High Anxiety
IN A NUTSHELL:
Recommended for:
Fans of electronic and instrumental music
Fans of industrial music
Ambience fans
People into drum samples
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Pros:
Good if you like music that you don't have to pay attention to
It sort of has some relatedness to Alt-J music
Cons:
No vocals can always get a little dry
Probably would run dry even with vocals
Lack of progression
High Anxiety is the first solo album from Alt-J drummer, Thom Green. Green said his passion for music began when he received a drum kit at the age of 3 and hasn't wavered since, despite having Alport Syndrome, a rare genetic disease that has caused him to become 80% deaf. High Anxiety is his way of exploring a more cerebral style, and display his own ability as a songwriter, producer and visual artist. Each track off this album is accompanied by a video co-created and directed by Nichola Farnan. (You can find these on YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEUAxKisa9I&list=PLYSkjkpGi0RLNmo9ENbB2UYoM5ucwLsnV
Photo by: Abby Gallardi
Melody Maker Jaker:
In short, High Anxiety is an ambient-industrial instrumental album. Just that sentence will scare off most people from listening to this. But not us at Redefining Records. We don’t give a fuck. On paper this sounds like something I should dig a lot: the drummer of Alt-J (a band I feel slightly guilty for saying I enjoy quite a bit) doing industrial-ish instrumentals. Unfortunately, this album starts to run dry for me very fast.
What makes this album a difficult listen for me is that lack of progression in most of the songs. What I mean by this is that by the first 30 seconds of the majority of these songs, everything is pretty much given to you. The songs really don’t go anywhere else for the rest of their duration. Take the opener “Vienna” for example. At 45 seconds, you have everything the song has to offer: some keys and strings on a loop over a drum beat. The only thing that changes over the next three minutes is the drum beat, and it changes only very slightly. The result is me waiting for every song to be over within the first minute. There is nothing wrong with an occasional vamp or jam on one riff in an album. In fact, it’s usually really fun to have one to a few of those in an album. However, when it’s a 70 minute album where every song is pretty much that, the album loses flavor quickly.
All of this being said, this album will definitely appeal to some people. If you are into ambient music, you might find this spin-worthy. If not, you should probably listen to something else or read a book. Or you could go outside for once. Do something productive.
The faves: “System”
3.8/10
Magicfingers:
I found out about this album by following Alt-J on facebook. I saw some advertising for a solo album by Thom Green, their drummer, and figured it would be the usual~ similar music to Alt-J but just slightly not as good… after listening I no longer think this is the case.
With these expectations heading into this flip, I was surprised to discover that it was all instrumental, but I didn’t let that deter me (although I’m sure it will for a lot of people). If you have no interest in music you can’t sing along and dance to, then stop reading now and go do something more productive with your time. Instrumental music is not for everyone, and especially electronic instrumental that doesn't involve massive drops and catchy vocal hooks by pop singers.
In any case, what we have here is something genuinely enjoyable under the right circumstances. Green displays a very capable skillset which we have seen already with his work in Alt-J, but is highlighted even more so in this solo project. He is a gifted percussionist, has a knack for sampling, and has a very creative mind. This album is in no sense a masterpiece, but it does have a lot of cool material within it.
This is exactly the type of music I enjoy playing in the background while I do homework, or household chores, or things of that nature. It is for the most part fairly relaxing. It runs a tad bit long at an hour and nine minutes considering it’s all instrumental, and a few of the tracks are probably too similar to each other and probably could've been cut, but I’m guessing very little was cut from this project and Green was more focused on displaying his entire arsenal of ideas.
It’s not Alt-J music, but you can hear the influence and style. It’s a very limited and inept type of music for most occasions, but when the time is right it isn't half bad.
Favorite Songs: “Meh”, “Preach”, “System”
6/10
Photo by: Side Stage Collective
Mom:
Oh baby, beepboop goodness. Well, kinda… not really though.
This week’s album pick is a techno adventure. But, I must begin by confronting the elephant in the room. This album is an electronic hour-plus group of tracks with no vocals. Each of those descriptions aren’t bad. To be good, an album can be long, it can be electronic, and it does not need vocals. But, put those three together and it gets a little hard to listen to. These three things are definitely my least favorite parts of the album. But other flaws include that it lacks memorability, it can be redundant, and, to be honest, can come off as boring.
On its good side, the album does contain some cool production and the tracks do have some differentiation in structure and timing. Not every song is 3 and a half minutes. Nonetheless, I gotta be honest, unless you are desperately squandering for techno, I wouldn't recommend picking up this album.
Favorite Track: “Beach”
2.5/10
If you like ambience then go here:
or don't, you're old enough to make your own decisions.
Next Album: Angelic 2 the Core
By: Corey Feldman
Our team is comprised of some semi-normal, occasionally funny people who love to listen to and talk about music. And like many of you, we constantly find ourselves hungry to discover new music.