-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Vinyl Williams
Album...: Into
GENRE....: Psychedelic Rock
STYLE....: Shoegaze
LABEL....: Company SCENE.....: 2016-01-03
BITRATE..: 230 kbps avg STORE.....: 2015-00-00
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 TRACKS....: 14
SIZE.....: 93.86MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/vinylwilliams
- TRACKLIST
1 Gold Lodge 3:22
2 Space Age Utopia 4:38
3 Ring 0:28
4 World Soul 4:28
5 Hall Of Records 3:58
6 The Tears Of An Inanimate Object 2:40
7 Iguana City 4:14
8 Greatest Lives 3:59
9 Zero Wonder 3:33
10 Axiomatic Mind 3:47
11 Eter-Wave-Agreement 5:29
12 Plinth Of Uncanny Design 2:07
13 Allaz 3:29
14 Xol Rumi 10:00
Total Playtime: 56:12
After releasing an album in 2012, Lemniscate, that seemed to jam all the
musical ideas young Vinyl Williams (aka Lionel Williams) ever had into each
song, his second album dials down the ambition in favor of a more focused and
relaxed approach. Released in 2015, Into refines the sprawling and
overstuffed space rock meets chillwave of the first album, and repurposes it
into something that works much better. Taking a cue from his new mentor and
label boss, Chaz Bundick of Toro y Moi, Williams sets the controls for the
heart of chill, with echoing waves of reverb that gently rock the listener
and fluffy clouds of sound that cushion them at all times as well. Working
deep inside the smoothly sculpted, easy-to-swallow framework of the album,
Williams delivers one laid-back, softly nocturnal gem after another,
sometimes easing into soft rock disco territory ("World Soul"), sometimes
delivering something a little artier yet still wrapped in dry ice (the
pulsing "Hall of Records"). He does a nice job of blending banks of vintage
synths with new wave guitars and skillfully programmed drum machines, with
the occasional live drums to keep things loose. To keep things from settling
into too much of a samey groove, Williams takes on some different styles,
like the rollicking Stereolab-in-space "Gold Lodge," the formless soundscape
"Eter-Wave-Agreement," and a little bit of weirdo late-night R&B on "The
Tears of an Inanimate Object" and "Allaz." The album-ending "Xol Rumi" is
like the whole album boiled down and blown out into a ten-minute song, and
shows Williams has the imagination and ability to go epic if he wants to.
It's a thrilling way to end an already impressive album that's quite an
improvement over his previous effort and on par with the best chilly, spacy
avant pop around in 2015.
*
Vinyl Williams is deep. The Los Angeles-based band∙whose heart and creator is
the artistic love child Lionel Williams∙embodies that transcendental pop
that╞ll make your rational side dizzy from trying to dissect it, because
that╞s not what they╞re here for. Vinyl Williams is not about placing chords,
melodies, and certainly not philosophy into neat, logical arrangements. It's
about finding the kind of harmony and euphoria that always seems to lie just
beyond the cusp of human perception. In fact, providing faint glimpses into
⌠other realms÷ is exactly the fuel for Williams' artistic intent. It╞s a
reflective, new-age, Eastern-influenced kind of vibe that╞s seen in Williams╞
visual fractal art∙which seems to fold in on itself in an endless array of
shape and color∙and pulses through his new album, Into.
Released under Chaz Bundick's (aka Toro Y Moi) new label, Company Records,
Into is a pensive, soft-sung oeuvre that lulls your third eye open with its
meditative hooks (or should I say mantras?). The enunciation lost in
Williams' whispering and wistful, shoegaze-inspired delivery only reaffirms
that Into, among a long hyphenated list of things, is a rich, ambient album.
It also has a foot in the neo psych-pop wave of late, along with traces of
krautrock, which breathed life into bands like Can and our current
electronica.
While these genres cover a vast sonic landscape, their origins are connected
by social dissonance. Psychedelic rock of the '60s and '70s certainly grew
out of a polarized climate, much like krautrock was influenced by the quite
literally divided Germany. It╞s this dissension that Williams is drawn to in
his music, perhaps as a result of growing up in a Utah community where his
spiritual beliefs didn╞t quite mesh.
Because even though Into at first listen sounds like a lingering LSD jam,
Williams believes that incorporating as many opposites in his sound is the
key to a unified, harmonious audience experience. Still with me here? (And
see the point of my quick history addendum?) So when Williams drops
descriptions like ⌠meditative abrasiveness,÷ you realize the noisy reverb and
pulsating pitches of his tracks have a soothing effect, and suddenly it makes
sense.
Standout tracks on Into include its first single, "World Soul," with its
percussion backbone and soulful undertones. While Williams' voice may be a
steady murmur, his melodies have an unpredictable and effervescent quality;
likely a result of the improvisation that plays so heavily into his creative
process. Another gem of a song is "Allaz," which features an irresistibly
funky opener and Williams' deep, breathy voice repeating, ⌠I did it, I
triedα÷ in a way that makes you think of beatnik basements and jazzy blues.
There╞s so much going on in Vinyl Williams' music∙and head∙that Into almost
feels like a three-dimensional piece. It merges sound and sight into a
holistic experience that washes over you like a wave of mysticism. Vinyl
Williams' waters may run deep, but they╞re the kind we want to dive into.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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