Devin Townsend - Ki, Addicted
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Devin Townsend is one of the few exceptions I'll make for over-production. His music almost requires it. I say "almost" because his recent album Ki has a relatively stripped down sound that fits its material. Otherwise, Townsend's music and production are inseparable. An unabashed fan of Def Leppard's Hysteria, he modernizes its "more is more" aesthetic. In his records, everything is big. Hooks, choruses, and riffs explode in garish rainbows. The music pulses with CPU cycles and the ups and downs of Townsend's bipolar disorder. It's a brilliantly arranged headache.
Ki (InsideOut, 2009), however, isn't so brain-bending. The first in a four-album cycle after Townsend folded Strapping Young Lad, it feels like an exhalation. Townsend is clearing his head after the relentlessness of SYL's metal. His drummer actually sounds like a human, single-coil Strats pay homage to David Gilmour, and bluesiness speckles the record. He even hires a female soul singer, with mixed results. Townsend isn't slumming, though. He's merely introducing new elements into his world. His melodic sense is intact, and even lean rollers like "Coast" can't escape low-pass filtration. Still, it's a pleasant surprise to hear a toned-down Townsend. His voice plus clean guitar is one of life's small delights.
Bend It Like Bender! (from Addicted)
In true bipolar fashion, Addicted (InsideOut, 2009) is much the opposite. The second in Townsend's four-album cycle, it's deliberately big and dumb. (Townsend has publicly said as much.) The song titles all end in exclamation points. Things like "nu-metal," "emo," and "J-pop" come to mind. Again Townsend hires a female vocal foil. This one, Anneke van Giersbergen, often sounds like a diva on a trance track. Her airy presence makes parts of the record feel like a shampoo ad. But like on Ki, Townsend can't help being himself. Some SYL-esque riffs crunch through, and he airdrops in his patented gonzo arpeggios. Townsend is making pop music, but his quirks banish it from Top 40 consideration. Still, metal edges or not, the pop is a lot to swallow. It's like high fructose corn syrup: repulsive yet addictive.
Buy:
Ki (Amazon CD)
Ki (Amazon MP3)
Ki (eMusic MP3)
Addicted (Amazon CD)
Addicted (Amazon MP3)
Addicted (CM Distro CD + poster)
Labels: canada, clee, prog metal, rock
10 Comments:
I'm a big fan of Ayumi Hamasaki (the Madonna of J-pop), so it's no surprise that I love Addicted. I think its hi-NRG elements are some of its best qualities. The closer it gets to metal, the less I like it.
I used to be the biggest SYL fan. I ate that stuff up. City is still in my all time top ten and Alien isn't far behind. I tried his other projects but was turned off by the production. Sure, that production was present on SYL but the musicianship and fury seemed to balance it out into something that felt relatively organic (I'm sure Gene's drumming help out). Then I heard The New Black. That was when the saccharine production technique from his countless other projects invaded SYL. Combine that with his joke metal propensity and you have one sickening release.
Cosmo, I get everything you are saying. Really I do. I understand the appeal, but I don't buy into it. I'll always be interested in Devin Townsend. Maybe someday I'll even buy another record. But for now, I'm still trying to pass all that sweetness out of my system...
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Miskatonic, you hit the nail right on the head. The New Black, save for a song here and there, was rife with the "saccharine," and was a huge letdown after as great an album as Alien was.
Its a sentiment I share concerning most of Devin's side ventures. It's not that they're not likeable - in fact, Infinity is one of my favorite things he's done - but they can just not stand up to the pure fire and intensity that was SYL in its prime. I'm all for artists stretching their legs and trying out new things - as an artist myself, I understand that need - but that doesn't mean that I'm going to enjoy it. I was excited for Ki, especially after hearing how amazing a tune "Coast" was, but I could not catch on with the rest of the album. I have a feeling this new one will have the same problem... as did the Devin Townsend Band... as did "Physicist"... etc.
I disagree that SYL was fundamentally superior to Devin's various side projects. SYL operated within a carefully arranged musical/emotional framework, which may have been natural at the start but became increasingly affected over time. The side projects are the more integral expressions of Devin's music, and are subsequently more varied and harder for the listener to adjust to.
Personally, I think Biomech, Infinity and Accelerated Evolution are the equal of his best work with SYL. Some of his other non-SYL work does not match up to the level of focus he applied to those, however.
The whole SYL vs Solo argument is a bit futile. The fact is he can't do SYL anymore, which is obvious from listening to the last SYL album. I love City and Alien to death but the rest of SYL's catalogue is mainly filler, much like his solo output. So I would say they are both equal, but obviously each listener is predisposed to favoring one over the other (I still can't decide though!).
Just got through listening to all of addicted, and I'll say, it was more enjoyable than Ki. It is still a slick Devin Townsend production, but it was good - still, it's only one listen so far :) I think Anneke van Giersbergen was a great choice for a collaborator for this (and I'm not even a The Gathering fan).
Anneke is just about my favourite female vocalist of all time, but I don't think she fits all that well on this album. The sound is too full, and some of the depth is her vocal delivery is lost in the sonic compression.
She still has a marvelous voice, but this material doesn't play to that like some of the best The Gathering work. Oddly, I didn't think the Agua de Annique album played to her strengths that well, either.
Matt - I'm curious what aspects of The Gathering play best to Anneke's strengths. It seems that a stripped down setting like Agua de Annique would highlight her voice more.
Cosmo, Anneke seems to have unusual control over the timbre of her vocal delivery. When she sounds best usually involves layered vocal tracks, of Anneke against herself. And, there needs to be enough space to allow this detail to be discerned from the accompaniment. On Addicted, there's so much going on around the vocal frequencies that she sounds one-dimensional.
Some good examples would be 'Rollercoaster' or 'You Learn About It'. As a counter example, 'Liberty Bell' is closer to the saturation of Addicted, but she still sounds fantastic on that anyway :/
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