Officially this is hip-hop, but with its avant-garde blend of rock, jazz and electronica, Blue Eyed in the Red Room will probably sit more snugly next to Aphex Twin in your record collection.
On his third album, Boom Bip rejects sampling in favour of playing proper instruments and then applying his trademark laptop trickery. The result is an altogether quieter affair that is still as weird, with the tracks built up in crazy layers — modern staccato beats meet 1980s melodies; jangly guitars meet cowbell-like chimes. Patterns and wistful emotions appear out of this Spaghetti Junction of musical directions like faces in cloud formations. Expect boom bips, plink plonks, driving riffs, soaring and sawing guitars, industrial noise and monotonous cords, dainty harps and pretty melodies all heavy with variable lag.
The Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys guests on the album’s standout track, Dos and Don’ts, a claustrophobic ode to moral panic, while Nina Nastasia takes the mike on the final track, The Matter of Our Discussion. Listen hard to Blue Eyed in the Red Room and you will discover all kinds of clever intricacies; listen softly and it’s like a lullaby washing over you.
(Lex Records)