Collegiate Times

“Enough Thunder” EP — James Blake

Universal Republic (Oct. 7, 2011)

James Blake has had quite a good year — his self-titled full-length album debuted to critical acclaim, his live performances were met with similar praise, he made his national TV debut and now he’s released a short EP to tie things up.

In many ways, “Enough Thunder” continues the sound found on the LP — sparse instrumentation, digitally modified vocals and an expert balance of cold and warm sounds. However, “Enough Thunder” does show some different styles that weren’t as prominent on “James Blake.”

There’s significantly less use of the booming bass, which really made up the backbone of songs like the cover of Feist’s “Limit To Your Love” on the album. 

Here, Blake covers Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” but chooses to simply replace acoustic guitar with piano and nothing else, aside from his own rich, soulful vocals. The result is a delicate and beautiful, albeit straightforward, rendition of the original folk song.

Probably most talked about on this EP is the collaborative effort of “Fall Creek Boys Choir,” with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Vernon’s heavily effected vocals twist in and out of harmony with his natural voice, amid a mix of thunderous bass, gentle piano keys and some kind of barking sample.

The EP ends on a simple note, with Blake back at the piano for the title track, leaving the bass out once again. There’s something to be said for him being able to perform well with nothing more than a piano. 

However, part of what makes James Blake interesting to listen to is his ability to create such spacious, minimalist productions with such in-your-face components. In that way, this EP is lacking, but in pure talent, it probably stands up well to his LP. However, it is certainly a step back from his earliest EPs like “CMYK.”

"Video Games" / "Blue Jeans" Double Single — Lana Del Rey

Stranger Records (Oct. 16, 2011)

It’s rare in the independent music industry that an artist swoops in as an almost overnight phenomenon and is then viciously attacked for everything from her supposed “mainstream industry” ties to her maybe-fake, maybe-real lips. However, this has been Lana Del Rey’s story so far. Lizzy Grant was a stalled, jazz-pop singer playing open-mic nights at bars in Brooklyn, N.Y. before signing with a label, and being gifted the name “Lana Del Rey” by her managers and lawyers. She released a self-titled album in January 2010, but it was scrubbed from the Internet when it was met with virtually no attention.

In July 2011, the popular music blog Gorilla vs. Bear posted the video of her new single, “Video Games,” and suddenly Lana Del Rey was the new “it girl” of the online indie music world. It wasn’t long before word of her past surfaced — allegations that she was merely a product of the industry machine, that her lips were fake, etc. She was suddenly the center of a heated debate over authenticity in independent music, despite having only released one single and a video to accompany it.

Thus far, everything I’ve written here has fallen into the trend that surrounds her. Few write about her music, instead choosing to write about her past and whether she’s “real,” which is a shame because her songs are quite good. “Video Games” is extremely simple, held together by Del Rey’s strong, robust voice. A basic marching beat is drummed out behind the strings that swell and disappear over top a deep bass note. Samples from YouTube videos of celebrities drunkenly trying to leave bars and tripping on the way are sprinkled throughout.

However, the real highlight is the other half of the release, “Blue Jeans.” The song sort of seems to define Del Rey’s persona — various old-Hollywood references, mentions of “gangstas” and hip hop, and a kind of pouty approach to singing her lyrics.

Whether the album lives up to the two singles she’s released so far is obviously yet to be determined. However, the promise is there, as evidenced by “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans.”

"Days" — Real Estate

Continue Reading: 12 Next » 

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.