A Sufi and a Killer

A Sufi and a Killer

Gonjasufi

http://www.sufisays.com/

(385 words)

This week I'm listening to A Sufi and a Killer. The lyrics and vocals were done by Gonjasufi while Gaslamp Killer took care of the production duties.

Hoo boy, where to start...I didn't enjoy this album. It was difficult to listen to. The problem for me was the vocals. In fact, the fall of many albums for me is often the vocals. It's especially bad since I might like the song very much, but then the vocals come in. It's like someone pouring bleach on your pancakes. They ruin something perfectly fine with an unnecessary extra.

Most of the tracks are fairly laid back and experimental. They also might fall under the downtempo category. As I understand, this might qualify as "post Hip-hop". The Gaslamp likes to throw around ethnic samples as well as retro beats. Which are normally just fine, recommended even. But they sound terrible when smeared with the Gonjasufi's godawful "singing".

To be fair, his style of singing would fit with the type of music. It's laid back, in a lazy sort of way. But I often find that there's no melody in his vocals. Which can also be fine. Often vocals can be used to provide rhythm or can just add to a song with their tone. But the only way I can describe the way he sings as tremulous croaking. It just doesn't do it for me. Also, the processing they ran his vocals through enhanced the annoyance. They seem to have gone for a "lo-fi" sound. They ran his voice through a bandpass filter and added some further grit to make it sound like it's coming through an old speaker. That's normally a perfectly fine technique. However on the tracks it's used in A Sufi and a Killer, I simply find it makes the irritating vocals even more difficult to get past.

It's a real shame. Gaslamp's beats and textures are carefully laid out and contain detail that could keep my attention. Perhaps I'm just being mean, but I really couldn't get past Gonjasufi's singing. It's just not for me. For an album where I should have been nodding my head to the beat, I found myself shaking it instead.

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January 2011 chart:

Click Box - Blue box [m_nus]

Click Box - Step Session [m_nus]

Johnny D - Tramodyssee [Oslo]

JPLS - Green01 (Skoozbot's Twilite Remix) [m_nus]

Dead Seal - Above Lies (Limacon Remix) [Auralism Records]

David K - Minihouse [Tsuba]

David K - Fugu [Freak N Chic]

Reese Turns, Jason Dunlap - BC (Rex Sepulveda Remix) [Hej Records]

Marc Antona - Red Faces [Highgrade Records]

Tom Ellis, Leif - Let's Forget the Past (Samim Remix) [True to Form Recordings]