From the first glimpses of Henry Laufer's work as Shlohmo, it was clear that the LA native and visual artist turned self-taught musician was onto something. With an effortless grasp on sound design, Laufer combines deceptively simple and emotive melodies, subtle bass drops and swinging slow motion drums. His early work has placed him at the forefront of a new wave of rising talent amongst West Coast producers... Inspired by the desire to write songs and create a release of full-range instrumentation and vocals all his own, Laufer promptly began home-recording Bad Vibes, his proper full-length debut album for the Read more on Last.fm.
On first listen I loved this. That immediately sent up red flags. Why? Here is a list of reasons that i was suspicious of the music (not why i disliked it):
1) the greatest common denominator in indie/pop music right now is hip-hop. if your song sucks or you are working a texture that you can’t quite pull off, throw a hip-hip beat under there, problem solved.
2) reverb is essential in production. if you choose to use tons of it you make the easiest emotional connection possible to your listener, and you can mask any number of issues.
3) bedroom production typically implies not only resourcefulness, but also limitation. it’s one thing to make lemonade, it’s another to read a recipe.
These are this albums three most prominent signifiers. Bad Vibes is just too suspiciously easy. It is not a statement or even a rejection of the need to impress. This is just part of the current.