big ups to rng for giving me a nice softball on my first day. i've already been feeling the more ambient side of dance music recently, ambient techno and chillout and stuff; i've always had a huge soft spot for this sound. i'd sort of assumed this would be a bit more new age-y, maybe take a bit more world music influence, just given the confounding and Mildly Intimidating orientalism on proud display as the front cover, but no, much of it is pretty standard kinda downtempo dance music. very british. Very 90s. i was reminded of, like, Irresistible Force and even Underworld, of all things, a couple of times. every once in a while this thing will slip into a beat that sounds like a Massive Attack instrumental, or something. very british. VERY 90s. ol' mate willy's biggest claim to fame—at least if you're a know-nothing pop dufus, like me—is his production work on Madonna's ray of light. now the title track on that record is like the greatest song of all time, or something. so this guy's some kind of heroic genius, right? we can all agree on that? i was pretty hype, then, to hear his solo work, especially because you just get a feel from the cover that this record is going to be very. very Produced. and that feeling is correct; it's an extremely Produced record. you will, in fact, get to hear production, from the guy that co-produced ray of light. one might argue over-production. if you're a Philistine. a true cur. but i don't believe in such a thing. my brain are huge. and you're are small... okay, well it actually is a little overproduced. Sometimes. so, on my initial listen through, i was extremely on board through the first two tracks. the opener, water from a vine leaf, seems to have been flagged as the standout on the record. it's got the most spotify plays by far, and the terrifying userbase of rym reviewers seem to agree that it's the best. even people that don't like the album agree that it's good. it's followed by into the paradise, which is this real edgy beat that actually evoked nine inch nails in my head, but don't tell anyone i said that or i'll lose my cred and you'll all gut me like the pig i am. i've Seen it. very strong tracks, those two. and then time to get wize comes around and, woof. look, if you're interested in 90s electronica—or man, a Lot of 90s music in general—you've just got to build a pretty high tolerance for its particular brand of cheese and corn. i Have a really high tolerance, but the spoken word bit on this track is... So much. i just had to kind of scoff and roll my eyes. i tried not to. it felt mean. it's not even that bad, i guess it just hit me like a truck for whatever reason. wasn't ready. it's so corny dude. oh god. i found the next track kind of so-so as well; i was, like, fully slipping out of the album at this point, but it does actually pick back up. in fact i really like the rest of the album! i'm particularly fond of all the atmospheric bits leading up to and away from the actual beats, it's a strong structure that's on full display with best friend, paranoia, one of my favorites. it starts out with this excellent, purely ambient synthwork that i so selfishly wish could just go on forever, and slides into a really nice beat and a far more evocative use of vocals than get wize. the last three tracks are also among my favorites, definitely the ones least beholden to a traditional dance structure. the most ambient and experimental the record gets, for sure. deus ex machina is very appealing to my aesthetic sensibilities; i actually really love that track. and water babies sounds like a track off the spyro the dragon (1998 psx) ost. so that's cool... man, my comparisons are fucking wack. anyway, yea! pretty good stuff! you can probably tell just from the Cover whether this is your kind of thing or not. it's definitely mine. i imagine i'll spin this quite a few times, and a lot of the tracks are definitely great for playlists and mixes. i'll have to look into more of this guy's stuff. Pieces in a Modern Style seems pretty intriguing, and i definitely need to hear his pop production work i haven't gotten around to yet. that all saints record looks pretty cool!

yesterday i'd given a shoutout to the great, benevolent, and Balmy 1001albumsgenerator dot com gods for starting this ill-advised journey off in a genre i'm pretty well acquainted with. in return, it dropped a fucking interminable box set release by a singer whom i hitherto "hadn't heard but heard of." funny stuff. i pogged. i pogchamped. yea, pretty intimidating, but thankfully i'm not 100% out of my comfort zone or anything. i like showtunes (or at least things that Sound like showtunes), i like vocal jazz (or at least etc.), i've heard one (1) frank sinatra album. "i can do this," i said. "i can making this hapen." this actually wasn't a difficult listen at all. very breezy. i am eternally fanatic for music built around and led by a strong vocal melody. i've really just gotta bite the bullet and fully explore the vocal jazz of this era because it's clearly my thing. i love the instrumentation, straight up. i'm just a complete sucker for a big, fat brass section. and man, when we cash in those sappy violin glissandos, i literally get chills every single time without fail. it's like a cheat code for music—it's Almost not fair. i wasn't familiar with any of these songs; they seem to have been primarily written for musicals, mostly stage but some film, that i've never heard of in my entire life because i'm ignorant and Also living nearly 100 years after the fact. but they're super strong both in composition and arrangement! i really like the lyrics, too. often very puerile and playful, having a lot of fun with like… with Words. i guess. "when you said you care / imagine my emosh / i swore then and there / permanent devosh." awesome. maybe i'm just Simple, y'know? in the head? you hit me with fifty-odd silly love songs with gorgeous arrangements, i'll eat that shit up with a spoon. all there is to it. truth squirts, don't it? let's not beat around the bush here, though: we're listening to this for Fitzgerald's vocal performance. and what can i say? she's incredible. i was completely blown away. i don't think i've ever heard a voice sound like that, just so immediately enrapturing and captivating, at once commanding your attention but also bending to the whim of the music. that's all jazz, is what that is. i've desperately got to hear her works with Louis Armstrong; i can only imagine how well they play off each other. as it stands, though, an all-time performer for sure. her laughs on they all laughed, the clear fun she's having with let's call the whole thing off and my cousin in milwaukee, her inflection on love walked right in (for sure a standout for me—i've been humming the melody as i write), the way she hits those lower notes on that track, ugh. beautiful. i was honestly full-on smiling through a lot of this thing. it's happy-making, oh yes it is! really it feels impressive to me that i'm coming off of three hours of music that does, more or less, all sound quite similar (just by virtue of using the same palette), and i'm already kind of itching to go back and play a fair bit of it again. just speaks to both to the immaculate construction of these songs and to Ella's immense talent as a performer. though it also just speaks to my aesthetic proclivities. it mainly speaks to that.