Album Review: James Blake - Overgrown

Album Rating: A-

Last time around, Mr. Blake was displayed to the world as poster boy for the very temporarily named “post-dubstep” movement. It’s not quite sure what the idea behind gifting this title was: whether James and co. were going to fill the carcase left behind when dubstep’s mainstream heyday inevitably ended, or if it was seen as a natural progression with the genre smoothly squeezing into something mum would like, too. Unsurprisingly, neither of these things happened -mostly because dubstep should have never been brought up in the first place- but Blakey certainly did happen. However, now the context has petered out his self-titled debut is looking pretty shaky on its own. It’s made it important for Overgrown to prove JB is capable of sticking it out without the momentum he benefited from before; which it does, for the most part.

Artist of the Day: James Blake

In the wake of Overgrown's limited preview, and in the shadow of its release, what's a man to do but tap his fingers on a keyboard in part anticipation and part frustration? It would be a stretch to ignore the flaws in his successful debut -the clunky, autotune awkwardness and overblown repetition- yet inexcusable to pass its successes. Never before had an artist surfed along the wake of the emerging dubstep wave to bring it crashing into the mainstream; his own, hyper-intimate approach was just a bonus.

With Overgrown, James Blake keeps on surfing long enough to flatten out the kinks. The preview hinted at much smoother and more harmonious tracks further spliced with the hip-hop and RnB vibes he glanced at in his debut. "Take a Fall For Me," featuring rapper RZA, takes this to a new level, and pleasingly James shuns the verse/chorus structure of rapper collabs in favour of a kind of synthed out matrimony. It's a new direction for James, and god damn is it working for him. That vinyl won't arrive soon enough...

Like on Facebook

Album Review: James Blake - Enough Thunder

James Blake might quite possibly be the only artist out there nowadays that is really doing anything that is unlike what previous artists have been able to accomplish. The cold, soul-tinged piano ballads of the UK electronic musician's self titled debut are completely unique to any other artist in the genre, dabbling all across the spectrum from blues to dubstep, even managing to pull off a breathtaking cover of the ever so delicate Feist. On Blake's latest addition to his already ambitious discography, Enough Thunder, a clear vision of the future of Blake's career is given, taking everything displayed on his self titled to the next level, giving dubstep a good name again.

James Blake Album Stream

Pitchfork favorite James Blake has been a machine in putting out releases. From three critically acclaimed EPs throughout 2010, to his new self-titled LP, he has simply not stopped putting out material. The best part about it is that he just keeps changing things up. Starting as a dubstep artist, he has now infused his old sound with qualities of R&B and Pop to make a record that is definitely the most accessible of his releases. Although he still uses samples, he finally shows off his own singing talent that pretty much nobody knew he had. This album will no doubt be another BNM on Pitchfork, and you can stream the whole thing right here.