Left Channel - Giantland Album Review
It’s a decent release but there’s simply not enough of it. Stand out songs; ‘Brittle Gray’ and ‘It may be months before the T’.
rating: 3
Ive been a Hip Hop fan since the early 80s when the likes of Double D and Steinski were around. They pioneered the instrumental cut and paste Hip Hop style with the legendary Lesson series of tracks. Years later these were carried on by DJ Shadow and Jurassic 5s Cut Chemist. However, instrumental Hip Hop has always been the less limelight-hungry member of the Hip Hop family, being comfortable with allowing its Lyric filled brother to take all the attention. Im not sure if this is because the A&Rs were unsure how to market it or if the whole sample copyright situation just made these songs economically unviable. Whatever the reason, instrumental Hip Hop became more left field and underground than its mainstream brother. To a certain extent this is a good thing. However, what it does mean is that anyone attempting to get into this genre has a limited market and at the same time has to open themselves to comparisons with the likes of DJ Shadow, RJD2 and Dan the Automator. A tall order indeed. Into this arena steps Left Channel with their third release; Giantland. This Manchester based duo released their first album Products of the Second hand Circus in early 2010 and they followed up in November 2010 with the second album Food and Entertainment. Their latest release, Giantland, is referred to as a mini album although at just over 20 minutes in my eyes its an EP, an album - be it mini or not - needs more than 6 tracks especially as only one on Giantland is more than four minutes long. The mini album opens up with the enjoyable A Holy Day In Giantland, which fuses vocal samples, some nice drums and guitar riffs. Its a nice enough track even though the first 45 seconds are taken up with a somewhat noisy intro and, although I liked the drums, about two and half minutes into the track there still seemed like there was too much unnecessary padding. The parts of the song I did like were good but I wanted more and felt they should have been put together in a more cohesive manner. The second track is the two and half minute My Cathode Spike which features well-structured drums and some interesting samples. With little interludes the track flows better than the first and ends with a seaside pier-sounding piano loop and a somewhat sinister sounding vocal sample. The track benefits from little or no stoppages and intervals allowing the music to draw all of your attention rather than an obscure sample. Track three is Sleeping Nun, a fast paced attack on your ears which at times reminds me of the DJ Shadow joint Mashin on the Motorway from his underrated Private Press album. This track is good and immediately had me nodding my head. With a nice loop and just enough obscure vocals samples it works well. Brittle Gray is an amusingly good track featuring interesting samples from what sounds like dodgy 80s pop tracks and a strange childrens TV show not to mention the odd vocals samples. The coolest sample in this track however is from Love Unlimiteds 1974 hit Move me no Mountain reminding us always that Barry White was a genius. Although the track itself is just two minutes and nine seconds it is one of my favorite tracks and highlights the duos creativity when using samples in an original manner. Perhaps the track would have benefited more if it had lasted a few minutes longer. It May Be Months Before The T is another strong track and its production style reminded me strongly of MF Dooms instrumental series; Metal Fingers Presents Special Herbs and Spices. However, the inclusion of some nice scratches and the changes in tempo allowed for this track to grow on me. I enjoyed it a great deal and found myself rewinding it a number of times. The last track on this fun mini album is an interesting one to end on and although its the longest one it does seems to be a little contrived with almost half the track slipping by before it really seems to start. Once it has started though, its fun and at the same time complex with a layered soundscape. To summarise, this is a fun little project however I would have enjoyed it more had the music been able to take the center stage rather than some of the obscure samples and unnecessary interludes. Where the music was allowed to shine it did and it did so very well. However too often it seemed that the duo were more intent on showcasing their library of strange samples over the music, and to be honest I have a number of Prince Paul albums that take obscure samples to the highest level and it takes a lot to better him so perhaps the band should concentrate more on another strong point; the music. The fact that this mini album is just over twenty minutes left me wanting more which I guess is a good thing from the duos point of view. However, its a decent release but theres simply not enough of it. Stand out songs; Brittle Gray and It may be months before the T. Left Channel's new album Giantland is available in March/April 2012.