Alias
Resurgam


2.5
average

Review

by 204409 EMERITUS
August 27th, 2008 | 8 replies


Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

Review Summary: A lackluster album from a talented producer.

Alias - Resurgam

In a year of stellar Shadow-inspired hip hop releases, it's not the record junkie sample wizard style that has impressed me most but the indie producer gone electronica album At War With Walls & Mazes by Son Lux. Son Lux is effectively a singer-songwriter but the "songwriter" part of that equation is a mix of breakbeat, r&b, trip hop, indie pop, and even folk. His music works on two important levels; as a singer-songwriter has to do, he writes great, emotive narratives, but more importantly, his actual production transcends the genre he is writing within by embracing so many unexpected genres. Fittingly, Son Lux even remixes the song "Want" by the newly popular, European folk-influnced singer-songwriter Beirut.

Alias, real name Brendon Whitney, releasing Resurgam on the indie hip hop label of the moment, Anticon, seems like the perfect storm of all the aforementioned artists. He can slip into the dense, thick trip hop of a Metaform but is also prone to the balladry of a Son Lux, with enough production gimmicks and indie cred to align himself with labelmates Why? (in fact Yoni Wolf guest appears on a track here). But despite this winning combination, Alias' Resurgam falls short for a variety of reasons. First of all, this perfect storm is executed on a song-by-song basis, instead of a moment-by-moment basis. The acoustic guitars are not intertwined with the sampled drum breaks and the synthesized melodies. Instead there are songs that are more dependent on the Son Lux brand of trip hop followed by ones that are more like a DJ Shadow song. This alternation feels like a missed opportunity for Alias, who shows moments of talent in each department, but never quite pits the two against one another, which could have resulting in a hybridized style that is greater than the sum of its parts. The only track that gets whisper close to that blend is "Well Water Black," an indie song with a continuously developing breakbeat and a mix of rap and singing, which is also clearly the best track on the album

The problems don't stop there. Some of the songs just aren't that good, both styles included. "Weathering" is a pretty but shallow affair of indie pop. "M.G. Jack" is the sweet-and-sour sauce of the album, executing somewhat droning or brooding melodies with zany production. Resurgam isn't all a big miss though. The aforementioned "Well Water Black" is amazing, and the slow-burning trip hop of "Autumnal Ego" and the break-heavy "Justamachine" absolutely slay. Alias has talent but not necessarily the taste to execute that talent properly for an entire album. He'll wedge all sorts of production oddities together, sometimes resulting in trash, sometimes in treasure. That, coupled with the fact that his synergy of indie, singer-songwriter, pop, and trip hop is never quite realized, renders Resurgam a few steps below the 2008 hip hop releases that have already proven themselves to be superb.



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user ratings (14)
3.2
good

Comments:Add a Comment 
Doppelganger
August 27th 2008


3124 Comments


I wish he didn't suck now :

brandtweathers
August 27th 2008


2006 Comments


maybe a new paragraph @ "But despite this..." or "First of all..."
regardless, another really informative review. gj
ps please replace son lux on worshipandtribute

204409
Emeritus
August 27th 2008


3998 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

brandtweathers

Comments: 1337

08.27.08

psilocybin
August 27th 2008


74 Comments


Ace writing, great job.

brandtweathers
August 28th 2008


2006 Comments


lame nick. i enjoy this website as a break from my hectic life at no one's expense.
aka get off my nuts and rearrange your cluttered paragraphThis Message Edited On 08.27.08

SynGates
August 28th 2008


2467 Comments


I don't think thats what he was going for

joshuatree
Emeritus
August 28th 2008


3744 Comments


1337

Ubicuo
August 29th 2009


56 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Well Water Black. i was addicted to this song for a couple months



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