there was a big buzz with swedish rapper chords' latest album "looped state of album" when he told that he was going to do it all alone. the album is third as chords but it's actually his sixth or seventh if you count his swedish reggae project helt off and a us version/re-release of his first album.
jens resch aka chords has been a prolific figure within the swedish hiphop scene and has been quite associated with jason "timbuktu" diakité. timbuktu is also the only guestappearance on the album as he lays the hook on "insomnia". his own works has been quite on the emotional side since '03 but no one expected to hear an album like this.
the links to kanye west's "808 and heartbreaks" sans tr-808 & autotune since this is a break-up album and it's the most famous example of it's kind in the last ten years. however in a more domestic link i would say that two albums are sonically closer and that would be producer embee's "tellings from solitaria" and albin gromer's album
when i say that there was a big fuss about this record i really mean, the album the has been so hugged and amped up, that anyone who dares so say something bad about the record would be slayed. on my first listen of the album it thought, yes this is good but, the hype was just senseless. i was already a bit reluctant to the album since i didn't like the single "the dude" and thought the b-sides "song for you" and "wipe those tears" was better. the latter of which featured philadelphians & the roots-associates dice raw & charles p. bailey.
the songs on the album that i liked the most was the starter "drift away", "insomnia", "one man show", the latter half of "robots" and "the boxer". the firstmentioned is probably destined to be done in a burial-esque refix as in the style of the "wayfairing stranger" remix. the latter is the one i'm highlighting and it's the albums only instrumental and something really grabbed me with it.
it isn't by any stretch the most original track as the chordprogression sounds a combination of "caravan" and another standard which i cannot name at the moment. the sound of it is what backpacker beatsmiths would make if they wanted to get a bit jazzy, granted that they could do more than just sample moody jazz. there is however a whole load of detail into the production and as in most of the albums, resch really went all out in the making of the record.
the blues and jazz influences are heard right from the first minute as the reverbed keys set the mood and the slow rhythm set the pace. resch's melodies are underlined with a deep bassline and it's topped off with lovely keyboards and organs that fit the spectrum perfectly. chords also slips in a highpitched patch on the last minute that sounds a bit west coast sound because of twee but warped nature. in this context it's kind of a more lowkey version of the moog sound that is known as the "the funky worm".
resch really did a great job on this song and his whole album and it's well recommended.
buy here (itunes)
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