The new Clarence Clarity LP, No Now is without a doubt one
of my favorite records from the last couple of years; I've already made push to
get it heard by more people, and I hope my efforts thus far have worked on a handful
of you at least. "Buck Toothed
Particle Smashers," is the latest memorable tune from the record to get
the video treatment; in the clip a collage of VHS projections act as the
breeding ground to a series of figures who jerk and jolt to the glitchy rhythms
provided by the singer/producer.
UK based producer Clarence Clarity (named after the popular meme) recently dropped his debut LP, No Now, via Bella Union. The reception has been pretty much nonexistent thus far which is surprising to me because the record is a brave and impressive hour plus journey into a distinctively dense and cacophonous re-imagining of pop and R&B music.
You may be thinking to yourself oh this is another ethereal bedroom R&B producer who’s married traditionally commercial themes with dramatic, sleek, minimal, dark, undertones to satisfy those who prefer their smoothness to mirror Autre Ne Veut over something like Jodeci? Well I’m here to tell you that while Clarence clearly knows what the Autre Ne Veut and How To Dress Well’s of the universe are doing with their takes on the genre, this is not that, this is maximalist, disjointed and glitchy, this is taking that idea of mixing 70% of that traditional R&B flavor with 30% experimenting and reversing the percentages so that the experimentation is now at 70%. No Now probably shares more in common sonically with the Animal Collectiveand is very much here and now, it completely encapsulates the all consuming nature of the Internet and the overwhelming beauty and ugliness it can sometimes create in today's society.
The unique take isn’t the result of production alone; Clarence’s eccentric vocal delivery will catch some off-guard and like last year’s FKA Twigs record, must have been extremely difficult to even pull off in these nontraditional musical environments. But somehow it all works and it all works extremely well in my opinion, providing the listener with one of the most original records I’ve heard in recent memory that could function on both a dance-floor and at home.
I hope people get to hear the record, it dropped earlier in the month and I haven’t really heard or seen much about it, which is why I’m even sharing a post that is closer to a record review than a heads up to readership that I usually would provide at this point. Get a taste of No Now from the five track sampler below and if you like what you hear pick up a digital copy from the usual places or a special edition physical copy from Rough Trade that also includes the instrumentals.
Wow it’s like the early two thousands all over again with
music news this week. First the Blood Brothers announce a reunion show in NYC
and now Baltimore’s original two piece band,Celebration, are back, albeit with
a new larger lineup. Now working with Bella Union, Celebration's forthcoming
full length 'Albumin' will be released on August 18th and is a further
exploration of punk, soul and psychedelia, check out “Chariot” below as well as
the campy infomercial for a game that will be included with pre-orders of the
new LP.
This is a track that has been on my playlist for a while now. Jonathan Wilson is a musician/producer who has helped bring back some of the swagger to the Lauren Canyon psychedelic/folk scene its been missing since the 70's. He released his first album Frankie Ray in 2007 and its follow up Gentle Spirit a couple years after but both were small presses with little distribution. Last year, Gentle Spirit was re-released by Bella Union Records with much wider exposure and received praise from critics.
"Desert Raven" is a track off of his latest album. The video is pretty nonsensical but whatever... its a good song.
