Aloan - Pretty Freaks

Aloan - Pretty Freaks

There aren't many artists these days that actually make me excited when I hear a new song or that there is a new album coming soon, maybe I'm too picky, maybe I'm jaded, I don't really know, but what I do know is this, one of the few bands that actually do make my excited, is the phenomenal Swedish fusion band Aloan. Many of you will remember back in the early days of Surreal Sounds, I bought you their album "Better In Springtime" which to this day I am still raving about, and having recently acquired the rest of their musical catalog, which i will share with all of you, I felt first I should share their most recent album, the not so long ago released "Pretty Freaks". Which as I'm sure you can guess is a magnum opus in the art of fusion. It stays true to Aloan's constant commitment to their many flavors, showcasing their soul, jazz, hip hop and trip hop sounds, and adding little elements of rock and metal in there just to average things out for the masses. Its an amazing trip through the worlds of sound and sight, and truly worth a listen too, and more so, its been truly worth the wait its taken for them to release this album, even if the wait seemed like more years then it was.

The album starts with "Liquid Girl", an upbeat and rather funky mix of pop and retro 1960s style pop, its abit different for Aloan, but I love when a group or artist takes themselves out of their comfort zone and tries something new, it shows care and dedication to their craft, you don't get that much these days its lovely to see, the song is pretty catchy too, which always helps. Next is "Swinger" the first single released off the album, it follows the same fast paced late 60s pop guitar with traditional trip hop beats over blues style vocals and rap, its a great big loud song thats just so incredible, the booming chorus is incredible and Granite's rap is just so damn onpoint is actually makes me wonder why he's not more respected among rappers, brilliant song. Next is the downtempo "Whitehair Child", which is a touching and beautiful soul style ballad about love and innocence lost, its alot deeper then most of the songs Aloan does, I was very pleased by this actually, I love when artists open up as they progress musically, its so amazing when it happens. Next is, "Invisible" a catchy beat driven funky blues style song that is just incredible, its a great hook, a great beat, vocals that are just flawless, its just so right and a great almost midway in the album point, most artists don't take care in stuff of that nature, the whole caring what point in each album a song is thing is normally the last thing on an artists mind, I love that its at the forfront here. Next is possibly the greatest song on the album, the incredible trip through sound called "Kabuki" continuing that thick retro guitar style, added with some soul and funk elements and enough catchy lyrics and backing beats to make this just the most perfect song I've ever heard from Aloan, Kabuki is a catchy fast passed song that I personally just love to play loud while I'm driving or just moving about the house, Granite's flow is again a clinic on how to use rap effectively outside of the genre, this is the track you'll be playing over and over, and singing along to the background hook on. Next is the surreal "Into A Werewolf" which is haunting, catchy and beautiful all at once, its a great blend of styles and metaphor, which has always been par for the course with Aloan, I've found over the years their imagery is just as impressive as their music and lyric content. After that is "Pain And Sky", another slow and eerily sexy ballad, thick booming guitar and bass drums, with just enough electronica style backing to make it unique and distinctly their own, its a beautiful song about how no one is truly pure and clean anymore, I seriously love when they do this style stuff. Following that is "Wanna Be A Rocker", takes them back again to the retro pop style that they've been trying to keep with on this disc, the music itself is amazing and the vocals and lyrics are catchy and just so perfect, I wished there was more of Granite in it though, we're almost done the disc and there hasn't been the feature track of his yet, normally there are one or two, also, I completely LOVE the reference to The Matrix in this song, its just so delightful, retro style with a modern reference, just awesome. Next is "I Slowly", which is a nice electronica mixed with rock and blues song, it at first felt slightly out of place, but once it gets going it fits right in with the rest of the disc, I completely love how Granite's using his laid back deep voiced flow on this song, it so fits the song perfectly, its just this booming, beautiful and sexy gritty track, its like a gangster movie in trip hop fusion form. Next up is "Beat Of The Black Heart" which starts out with this incredible bass beat that leads to a sublime soul and rap song, its almost like a battle song really, which I gotta admit I been fiending for sense the last album, its just a perfect blend, and its catchy as all hell, with also helps, the acapella in the middle, totally brilliant. This is followed up with "Dragons Are Frail", a rather sexy blues trip hop song that just makes me wanna listen to it over and over again, I love when they use imagery and metaphor for things, its so unique and brilliant when they do it, this is a love song hidden behind the metaphor of a dragon and the lady of the lake and other medieval imagery, its just so out there and yet so awesome at the same time. And finally the last new song on the album is "Try Not To Forget" which starts out alot different then most Aloan songs, it has a distinct and unlike anything else they've done sound to its start, in a sense the closest thing to a simple guitar and vocal song you'll find on an Aloan album, its a sad song about remembering one's self no matter what they go through in life, and the questioning of how far you have to go before you lose who you are and who you feel you are. The album ends with a reworking of Swinger, which I feel is a pretty good way to end the disc honestly.

Now the big question, is this album for everyone? Well, i like to think that as long as you aren't someone thats pigeonholed into one form of music and nothing else, that Aloan is a great band for everyone, but I guess that comes down to personal taste, I would like to think that there is something for everyone, some pop, some rap, some blues, some rock, some electronica, some jazz and rock too. I like to call Aloan one of those groups that takes you on a tour of the music spectrum in the course of their albums, and i'd like to think in the future more groups and artists would move in this direction, it keeps music from getting stagnent and overflowed with sound alikes and boardroom created and marketed bands. So if you want to try something different, and new, and unlike most of what I'm sure you've heard out there in the world, give this album and the band Aloan a try, Ill be posting their other albums soon to combine with this one and their earlier effort "Better In Springtime" soon.

And if you aren't convinced by my review, here is a look at the video for Swinger..




Artist: Aloan
Album: Pretty Freaks
Genre: trip hop, blues, funk, rock, jazz, hip hop
Homepage: Aloan.ch
Myspace: Aloan On Myspace
Download: Album download here

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BC

Aloan - Better In Springtime

Aloan is a acid jazz trip hop band out of Geneva Switzerland, who after the release of their third album, "Better in Springtime" are starting to gain a following throughout Europe and making their way to the more enlightened ears through out the Americas and the Eastern world as well. They have a sort of unique mix of styles who makes them stand out from many of the others in their field. A delightfully refreshing mixture of blues, jazz, trip hop, rap, ambient, classical, and soul with small hints of atmosphere tossed in there where it just makes it gold. Its no wonder that "Better in Springtime" is being called the album which will get them noticed.

The album starts out with a beautiful acid jazz track called "One Dance for Destiny" a song that reminds me alot of Eryka Badu in both vocals and in music, a truly beautiful track about giving one last chance with someone she just can't give up, incredibly done, the right mix of old and new, great way to start off an album, and also the best way to set the tone that will carry through to entire disc, many times through out your musical journey you'll find yourself coming back to this, normally with some incredibly well done rap put in there too, from there we jump to two club ready disco tracks "Rise" and "The Good Day" both great in their own respects, though i would personally give the edge to "The Good Day" but thats just me. From there we go to "In Time" a very mellow downtempo acid bluestronica track, all the things you need for a good track are here, the beat, the perfectly done vocals, the right touches to the music at the right moments, just beautifully done. the next track bring us back to the style from the start of the disc again but with alittle more aggressive this time "I'm Your Tears" its called, the beat is hypnotic and the rap is dropped in at just the right spots, very well done. "I'll Never Be A Woman" is a very dark and smokey electronica song hidden as a blues song, I love the bridge of this, it just drives me insane with how great it is, this is the kind of song you would find as the background music in the sex scene of some indie movie, its just amazing. "Tonight I'll Kill You" is probably the harshest track on the album, and about as close to angry aggressive rap you'll find on here, which I like, not that I mind harsh hard rap, but well, this just makes the concept awesome, not bad for a song about not really believing in god I think, angry rap that makes you think, who knew that was possible in this day and age eh? From there we jump downtempo again with "Hopefully" a very lovely song that starts out with this great classical and piano bit, which highlights the vocals to a level thats almost acapella, which makes me wonder just how great it would have sounded that way, as the song progresses you find bits of crashing almost nightwish like guitars tossed in at the right spots, and an angry bit of rap tossed in, this is a song is a true adventure in sonic manipulation and I love it for that! "Get On Top" is a very awesome base heavy lowrider ready rap track thats just awesome and would get played on any rap station anywhere in the world and get tons of play, course that'll never happen, but hey, a guy can dream right? "Dreaming" is a nice contrast to the track before, a very lovely track that again brings us back to the flavor from the begining of the album, there are more hints of the trip hop and electronic in this one though, I love how they expand the sonic envelope abit, then come back to the feel at the start again, its such a great trip to be taken on. "Sick Little Doll" sounds alot like a soul song straight out of the 1970s golden age of soul, there are bits of Tammy Tarell and later career Diana Ross before she started doing horrible disco tracks in there, and little bits of Roberta Flack and Minnie Riperton in there too, very nice, I also love how it was run through a filter to give it that old scratchy record feel, it just adds to just how great this is. "We Got What You Want" is a really nice autobiographical track, its a very middle eastern infused laid back rap track that jumps between the bands history to political fuses to just plain boombastic hip hop. The album ends with "Better in Springtime", a lovely track that starts out like a blues song and ends up something akin to "Black Velvet" that great one hit wonder track by the underated and shouldn't be forgotten but is Alannah Myles, its a lovely end to an album that takes us all over the musical map and leaves us wanting more.

I'm not sure if everyone will like this, I know I did, and I would guess that most people would give it a chance, there is after all something for everyone in it, which is a rarity in the world of music these days, I would even go far enough to say its actually worth going and buying a copy of it, but to a sad end, most music shops probably wouldn't have something this obscure, shame too. Give it a try, see if you like it, they've got two other albums out there if you like this one.

Aloan - Better in Springtime

Artist: Aloan
Album: Better In Springtime
Genre: Trip Hop,Electrojazz,Jazz,Blues,Bluestronica,hip hop,Disco,Club


by: Just A Simple Poet