The new album from Michael Kentoff of the D.C.-area band The Caribbean is full of moments of invention. With repeating figures, samples, drum loops, and hushed vocals, these numbers mesmerize. There's something almost hypnotic about the hooks here on Michael Kentoff.
The whirring insistence of opener "Ima Try" owes a debt to the mix from Chad Clark (Beauty Pill, Smart Went Crazy). The pieces of this puzzle flit around and finally snap in around Michael's modest vocals. The melody is stretched out, rendered in an almost Glass-ian pattern of loops behind Kentoff's voice. Elsewhere, "Everything's R&D" stands as a highlight of this album. Michael's vocals are almost not needed given how much is going on in this mix here. Beats which loop up and over the hook anchor this, even as moments of the track are given over to samples which open up a big melodic sound behind the narrow confines of the piece.
The best tracks on Michael Kentoff all feature a kind of bedroom electro-pop gussied up with backing that is full of the pleasures of trip hop and synth pop. "Twelve Congolese", for example, has so much going on that you could almost pull Kentoff's vocals out of the track and serve this up as something on Warp Records. Still, Kentoff's voice grounds these numbers, giving what are fine servings of electro-pop the warmth of DIY indie. As such, Michael Kentoff occupies its own unique space, one which seems to have been mapped out with flag planted firmly by the vocalist and mixer Chad Clark.
Michael Kentoff by Michael Kentoff is out now. Details below.
[Photo: Cameron Whitman]