Artist.......: Natural Self
Album........: The Art of Vibration
Label........: Tru Thoughts
Genre........: Trip-Hop
Catnr........: TRUCD162
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Jul-17-2008
str.date.....: Jun-30-2008
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: http://www.myspace.com/naturalself
track title time
01. Introduction 01:19
02. Welcome to the Ascension 03:06
03. The Rising Feat. Andreya Triana 04:17
04. In the Morning 04:01
05. Alright Turn it Up Now 04:55
06. Faultlines 03:40
07. Breathe Deep Feat. Abdominal 04:12
08. Ghost in the Machine 03:11
09. The Crush 03:25
10. The Laws of Motion 04:42
11. Feet Keep Moving 03:06
12. Another Land 03:43
13. Alexandra and Gabriel 04:24
Runtime 48:01 min
Size 56,4 MB
Release Notes:
Hitting you with incredible beats, infectious hooks
and punchy horns 'The Art Of Vibration' by Natural
Self encompasses a diverse range of influences and
moods, with accomplished songwriting and
production. Guest vocals are provided by eminent
soul singer Andreya Triana and MC Abdominal.
Natural self loves a good introduction (and in his
own words, "There's nothing wrong with being a bit
over the top about it either!"). From the
attention-grabbing intro right through to the
heartfelt tenderness of the final track "Alexandra
& Gabriel" - a sweet dedication "to a beautiful
woman and her baby boy" - 'The Art Of Vibration'
presents the impressive sum of the various
evolutionary twists and turns in Natural Self's
musical development so far.
Whilst this is the first full length solo album
from Natural Self on Tru Thoughts, Nathaniel Pearn,
the man behind the Natural Self moniker, has
previously received acclaim for the 2006 album
"Gravity" - the collaboration with his label-mate
Nostalgia 77 under the name The Broken Keys - and a
handful of 7? singles on Tru Thoughts. He released
his debut album on Breakin' Bread Records, also in
2006, and has a number of years' experience as a
skilled DJ, recently guesting alongside Mr Scruff
at his Brighton residency.
"The Rising" is the first single from this album
and has received rapturous reactions to date. A
great behemoth of a track, the idea behind it is
the gods lamenting the behaviour of the humans in
their treatment of the planet. A powerful, chanted
chorus, featuring Pearn on vocal duties, gives way
to captivating lead vocals written and performed by
Andreya Triana, with an impossibly tasty, heavy-
hitting hip hop beat (with a dubstep lilt and some
cheeky snares in there for good measure) driving
straight through the middle. Andreya Triana,
definitely one to watch, is currently co-producing
her first self-penned album with Bonobo.
The punchy horn stabs which permeate "The Rising"
and many tracks on this album give a taste of the
old-school funk music that has played such a
consistently important role in Natural Self's
musical inspiration, and call to mind some of his
earlier work, such as his collaborations with Alice
Russell. Club tracks and dancefloor gems abound,
namely in the form of "In The Morning", a feel-good
summery club tune featuring Pearn and Andreya
Triana on vocals and Ben 'Nostalgia 77? Lamdin on
Guitar.
In "Alright Turn It Up Now" the horns are out in
force, piled on top of viciously crafted beats and
creating layer upon layer of fiendishly catchy
hooks and breaks. A definite dance music-inspired
track, but in Natural Self's own imprint. In
contrast, the raw feel of "Faultilines" gives the
sense of a musical journey with the essence of the
grind of daily life, and the track continues to
build in various layers of percussion and bass.
This track is undeniably gritty and gratuitous -
"Almost ugly. A crude bastard of a tune." says
Pearn, gleefully - but it also has a tropical,
rhythmic feel.
On "Breathe Deep", the charismatic MC Abdominal,
who has previously worked with DJ Format on more
uptempo business, handles this slow and deep beat
with ease and skill in the more downtempo second
half of the album. A space-age theme bubbles up
throughout "Ghost in the machine", "The Crush"
('Robot sex music', according to Pearn) and "The
Laws Of Motion" which variously sound cosmic, spun
out and futuristic. Pearn provides the vocals on
"Feet Keep Moving" having got into singing by
accident during the Broken Keys album (when the
original vocalist was unable to do it) and it is
now something he would like to pursue further, and
rightly so judging by this performance.
"The Art Of Vibration" is the culmination of
boundless appreciation of hip hop, funk, soul and
club music, an uncanny talent for crafting killer
beats and an inspired desire to experiment and take
things further, representing a giant step forward -
and a tantalising sign of more gems to come. As
well as the CD, the album is available as a special
6-track LP with full CD album inside.