But now i'm back! First of all, some shameless plugging of a few mixes i've been doing, they arent anything amazing, but its more difficult than it looks, and I must say, I never realised how influenced I was by dubstep I was until I started making them. I am going to try and master some production techniques on Logic and push on from there and see what I can do, my mixes are over on http://www.mixcloud.com/OddSox/ so if youve got some time, please, give them a listen and share them about if you think theyre any good!
Coming back I thought i'd say my piece about the new James Blake EP "Enough Thunder". It's gotten a lot of inches in the industry and its either turned heads or turned previous fans away, whilst i've recommended the EP to a few friends, who've gone on to become big Blake fans, sites like Pitchfork have seemingly turned their back on Blake, who was once a poster boy their "hipster" image. Blake has always been at the front of what's acceptable since his early EP's, taking a great amount of dubstep influence, but mainly creating his own thing, with deep bass tones, and a real haunting feel to whatever he's done vocally in the past 18 months or so. His current work has been a million miles away from his previous EP's such as "Air and Lack Thereof" which failed to capture my imagination, however, Blake rounded and rounded, letting all his influences pour out, into his more recent EP's, and whilst I do hold his previous works in high regard, I do prefer Blake's more recent escapades into a more rounded, vocally inhibiting sound, both factors of which cumulated brilliantly into his debut self titled album, with Lindesfarne I and II encapsulating this sound.
In his more recent EP, Blake has further distanced himself from the poster boy of "post" dubstep, and for me, this seems intentional as it is exceptional. Although he'll always have his influence in the dubstep genre (with a more 'electronic' EP due for December 2011), his more vocal works such as that on Enough Thunder removes himself from the hype train he's been on. To me, the EP is sublime, the subtle tones come through when you really listen to it, and whilst tracks like "A Case of You" resinate some great beauty, We Might Feel unsound takes all of Blakes finer elements, such as his piano work and vocals, then attaches a steady beat towards the end, making it, for me, one of the tracks of the year.
If i'm honest, the EP didnt capture me in the way I ever expected it to, but it did grab my attention in the subtleties. Effectively, I think what Blake has done here is taking himself from the limelight, maybe on purpose, maybe by mistake. Some will say he's pushed too far on this EP, and is getting too ahead of himself, and at times, too minimalistic, but to me, it seems like he's trying to work two audiences, with his later electronic EP to come and re-solidify his status as the dubstep overlord of hipsters, whilst his album and Enough Thunder and getting his name out to a wider audience, or maybe, he's just trying to find his style still...
