Cedric Noel, Tarik Robinson, and SEULEMENT
Cedric Noel
Hang Time // Joyful Noise Recordings & Forward Music Group
There are so many different avenues ventured in the process of becoming an artist, and no matter the route, it’s always inspiring to see someone open themselves to share their experiences and truths. Once again, Cedric Noel has stepped forward to bare himself with a stir of emotions, creating an inimitable body of work. On his latest LP Hang Time the Tio’tiá:ke/Montreal-based songwriter sings in stories, gradually unveiling the happenings of growing up as a black artist whilst grappling with a sense of self and identity - both personally and musically.
Listening to Hang Time is a variably different experience than what is was for Noel to complete the album. While within these songs it seems there is a subtle sense of urgency - a necessity in bringing them to life - the actual process of writing and sculpting Hang Time happened over a lengthier period, during 2017-18. Noel then worked closely with friend and engineer Steve Newton for some time to ensure the songs reached their ultimate form. “Comuu”, the first track, starts on a swift drop and marches at an unwavering pace with matched vocals. Immediately following is an explosive and emotive arrival of “Headspace” which presents soaring guitar and heavy percussion paired with delicate trickles of piano. This song, already filled with emotionally charged open chords, comes full force with Noel’s layered vocals in the chorus.
These two aspects the songwriting on Hang Time aid in not only creating a tenderness to each track, but also offer a peek into the path of musical inspiration that led Noel to his distinct sound. Songs like “Keep”, “Stilling” and “Nighttime (Skin)” are mildly reminiscent of the early midwest emo and indie that inspired an unabashed shift in writing and performing music that is vulnerable and powerful.
Hang Time softens with the introduction of tracks “Bass Song”, an intimate duet with Ella Williams of Squirrel Flower, and “Born”, which sets on display the warmth and softness of Noel’s voice while he sings about the emotionality and experience of adoption. Although Hang Time is from start to finish a powerful and impassioned collection, it is track ten “Allies” that stands out for a multitude of reasons. Concerning the authenticity of genuine allyship, this song begins with a gentle and warm guitar strum, however it quickly becomes heavy with the repetition of Noel’s voice asking “Are you on my side?”. As the song comes to a close, a soundbite of Malcom X plays while swelling guitar washes over the entirety of the composition.
With Hang Time, Cedric Noel yet again sets forth a seamlessly beautiful offering of personal experience, emotional complexity, individuality and challenging, yet critical narratives. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to experience an artist capable of laying that all out on the table.
- LG
Tarik Robinson
Rotations // Makebelieve Records
Rotations is Tarik Robinson’s newest full-length project, and his first under his government name. With a Boom-Bap ethos, the Calgary veteran flows effortlessly and relaxed over old-school drum breaks and classic Hip-Hop samples, constructing a hypnotizing mirage out of the silky ambience of the project and his own insights. Aptly named, the title of Rotations, aside from the obvious allusion to spinning vinyl, sets the stage for the picture that Robinson paints of the cycles of life of himself, Hip-Hop, and everything related.
Sonically, both the production and vocals on Rotations are wildly laid-back without being one-note or too sparse. Without ever raising his voice, Robinson easily bounces between diverse flows and styles, directing his unique personal energy masterfully. Twinkling piano samples, lazy trumpets, and classic drum breaks, complemented by scratching, the occasional beat switch-up, and old-school vocal chops, offer up nostalgia and a soundscape that draws the listener in. Characterized by mostly straightforward hooks and long outros that will have your head bouncing, and which serve as a nice contrast to Robinson's dense rhyme scheme, Rotations takes its time. Far from being a negative, the production of this album takes care to make room for every aspect of Hip-Hop that contributes to good Boom-Bap, and thus creates a fitting platform for Robinson’s practiced lyricism.
The theme of the project, rotations, is the jumping off point for Robinson on this release, although he doesn’t need much to get going. His rapid-fire delivery of scenes, proclamations, and internal rhymes quickly run away with this project, elevating it to something that is at once a very good rapper just rapping as well as a love letter to Hip-Hop as a whole, encompassing Robinson’s experiences of the culture, the community, and the life of a genuinely dedicated MC.
Constructed for easy listening, the bouncy drums, the myriad of samples, and, above all, Tarik Robinson’s hypnotizing bars, will draw in any Hip-Hop fans to the point that they might miss the actual density of Rotations. Definitely one to let play all the way through, and definitely one to devote more than a cursory listen to, this album does justice to Robinson’s name change as well as the work that he’s put in to get where he is today.
- Devon Acuña
SEULEMENT
EX PO // Mothland
It’s almost axiomatic that electronic pop sounds best when sung in French. Huge, melodic vocals that percolate over a skittering, angular soundscape and a general aesthetic that often brings to mind Animal Collective in their Merriweather Post Pavilion period makes Quebecois artist SEULEMENT’s EX PO a compelling listen. This is a richly psychedelic record, never skimping on the outré sonic textures that push the envelope, and challenge the listeners concept of just what constitutes catchy, accessible pop. For all its avante-garde pretense, this is a relentlessly infectious record, filled with deliciously structured songs and lush, minimalist arrangements that use dissonant electronic textures as a counterpoint to enhance the sweetness of the glacially titanic melodies.
That’s not to say that EX PO isn’t without its harrowing moments. The title track is a frightfully intense bit of cataclysmic doom-pop that very much brought to mind the electronic collaborations between David Bowie and Brian Eno and sent shivers up my spine, its icy discordance building to a climax that felt at times like a plunge into freezing waters.
Another artist that I couldn’t help comparing this to was Bjork, particularly regarding the elements of sonic grandeur, both in SEULEMENT’s song structures and in his incredibly impressive vocal work. Album centerpiece “PLI” is a delightful bit of near acapella voice work, its impassioned and rawly emotional vocal floating yearningly over a texture of reversed, time-stretched backing vocals that pull and warp like taffy. Regarding arrangement, everything always seems to move relentlessly upward, swelling from its minimal base to fill the sonic space, like voices rising to fill a cathedral, and there’s an inherently spiritually cathartic feeling lent to the whole that I also associate with the work of the Icelandic songstress.
The album concludes with a pair of collaborations with Canadian poet Alexei Perry Cox, her meditative spoken piece “TRANSIT” seaguing into the heady industrial dirge that concludes the record. All in all, EX PO is an artsy, intellectual and starkly beautiful cohesive work that expands the horizons of what is possible in the marriage between conventional songcraft and electronic experimentation.
- Shaun Lee
