Joakim, Milky Ways (!K7)
Nov 4, 2009 3:20 PM, Noah Levine
Music carved out of time and space
Parisian musician Joakim seems to approach his work as if he were in outerspace and able to hear all of the sounds of Earth at once. Styles, techniques, instruments, genres scenes and eras get banded together, and the resulting compositions come to life as engaging musical Frankenstein’s Monsters.
He seemed to acknowledge as much with the 2007 aptly titled Monsters & Silly Songs, and with Milky Ways he pushes further to find a surprisingly more unified result. Noise-rock touches on opener “Back to Wilderness” cozy up nicely with the European disco of “Ad Me,” and the beguiling “Medusa” introduces dreamy pop to acid house.
Post-punk stomps offer the most consistent presence, but nothing relies on just one source, and the album impressively traces a path that, almost mobius-like, ends just about where it began. Part of this oddly cohesive flow probably stems from Joakim’s increased reliance on his touring band (recently redubbed The Disco) who played a big part in the initial writing and recording.
Of course, Joakim didn’t just take the live sessions and call them songs. Almost everything got some post-production rearrangement, and whether working with vocodered lyrics, italo synths or drifting rock textures Joakim truly knows how to create winning juxtapositions.
[4 out of 5 stars]
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
