James Blake, London's 21-year-old wunderkind producer, has released four EPs since 2009 and his latest,
Klavierwerke, is a micro-masterpiece. Blake is one of many UK exports touting skills in the dubstep/electronic genres, but while so many of his peers hover around four-on-the-floor rhythms, Blake's jams are much more challenging.
Let's start with the basics: Blake's music is normally rooted in R&B, soul, and avant-jazz. In only four releases, Blake's created his own recognizable style -- his songs are mid-tempo and cut between sampled/manipulated vocals (usually his own) and bass tics, stuttering cymbals, timid handclaps, and other nondescript electronics. The point being, Blake practices minimalism. His goal isn't to get you on the dance-floor; it's a exercise in digital subtly. The
CMYK EP, released in May, is the most straigtforward take on Blake's warped R&B sound; think
Autechre meets
Burial.
His latest, the
Klavierwerke EP, was released earlier this month. Each of its four tracks find Blake stripping down his slow-burn sound and relying more heavily on his piano. "Tell Her Safe" recalls the isolation of
Bon Iver, while "I Only Know (What I Know Now)" turns electro-convention on its head, playing with silence and irrhythm more than sub-bass and snare-drum.
On top of all that, Blake just dropped "Limit to You Love," a
Feist cover and the first we're hearing from his forthcoming debut LP. The track's interesting because A: It's a Feist cover by James Blake and B: We hear Blake's voice, free of any manipulation. The album cut is stirring in it's simplicity, shifting between Blake's voice and piano and skittering bass beats.
It's all headphones music for sure, but a little patience reveals an artist challenging what electronic music can be. Or maybe's he's just a overly-trained classical music major using Ableton as a pallet. That's for you to decide.
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CMYK - James Blake
I Only Know (What I Know Now) - James Blake
Tell Her Safe - James Blake
Limit to Your Love - James Blake
