Review: Expensive Looks – Dark Matters
Expensive Looks – Dark Matters (2012) [Group Tightener] // Grade: B
Despite it’s name Expensive Looks’ (a.k.a Alec Feld’s) debut album Dark Matters is not particularly “dark” at all. All 9 tracks are danceable, bright, and generally triumphant beats. Take, for instance, the album-opener “Your Dreams Our Week.” That title suggests a look at trying to chase your dreams but have to work. Well, I see it like that anyway… But, the beat is funky and celebratory. “Nothing More” has a similarly dark title and lyrics that suggest loss and/or giving up, but the beat is playful and kind of reminds me of a circus. But, only kind of. It’s got a vague hint of circus in it.
A lot of the words I’ve just used to describe Expensive Looks’ music (“Playful,” “Bright,” “Celebratory”) you could use to describe a good deal of other current electronic musicians’ work. And, indeed, a couple other reviewers have compared Dark Matters to chillwave artists pretty heavily. I see why all those comparisons are legit, but I also can see ways Alec’s music is unique and stands out. If I do have to compare his stuff to someone else’s, I’d say it reminds me most of Washed Out. To me, what makes Dark Matters unique and not just like another Within And Without is his use of drums. Few chillwave guys have drums with funk like Expensive Looks. For example, on a track like “Vanishers,” the drums hammer out in this really cool way that reminds me of some of Pharrell’s classic production for the Clipse. Another skill Expensive Looks has to set him apart from others is how good he is at sampling. Unfortunately though, only a few tracks on Dark Matters show this off. “Felt Up,” and “Tracewave” are both made up of samples chopped up into tiny bits and played at us in this almost ringing, rapid-fire way. Both those songs remind me of like stars and cosmic dust zipping around. And, they remind me of Flying Lotus a lot, too.
Many songs on Dark Matters are pretty repetitive, though. Some of the beats repeat the same loop a bit too long and many of the songs sound similar. Beats going on for too long I guess is because these tracks are meant to be dancey. But, I think more variation from song to song would’ve made this a stronger album. Because of that, The songs that stand out the most to me are the different are more experimental ones like “Tracewave.”
