Album: Ghettoville
Artist: Actress
Label: Werkdiscs / Ninja Tune
Released: January 1st, 2014
Country: United Kingdom
Of the half a dozen or so 2014 albums that I've listened to, this is the only one that really blew me away. It could only be really be classified as "ambient" but that's hardly a good descriptor at all. Actress takes influence from many other genres, IDM, Post-Dubstep(Akin to Mount Kimbie) and even some downtempo. He then takes all these genres and twists them into a loop, creating what I believe to be his best(and possibly final) work.
Probably in my top three of the year so far. I hadn't listened to any Actress stuff beforehand so I was surprised how minimal it was, but it never lost my interest. The first half in particular has this really downtrodden, desolate feel to it. But yeah, it was a really interesting album, only behind the new Silver Mt Zion and Angel Olsen on the year for me so far.
I'm a big Actress fan, but this is the worst album he's put out, it lacks the charm and variety that his other work has and I often thought it was sterile and lacking in any sort of character. It wasn't really attention grabbing or dynamic(horrible word, couldn't think of a better one) enough to justify the length either. The second half is much better. Rule and Gaze are tunes and stand head and shoulders above the rest of the album. People slated Zomby for the off the walls nature of With Love, the fact it constantly and abruptly changed throughout the course of it's hour plus length, but I think he's onto something, especially when dropping these mad long albums. I hope this isn't the last thing Mr. Cunningham releases under the Actress moniker, it would be a shit way to go out.
RockyRaccoonIs it solipsistic in here or is it just me?ModeratorProfile Maryland
I enjoyed "R.I.P" a lot and was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I think it's just ok. It has some really cool moments, but I think it really drags at times. It's not bad, but I don't think it's nearly as good as I know Actress can do. _________________ Progressive Rock
It was actually really different from his other albums.
Biiiiiit too long for me, but it's a pretty decent album. Not sure how often I'll go back to it though. Would have been in the later half of my top 100 of 2013 chart. _________________ Doubles & Conch
agree with these. Wasnt really a fan of RIP but i figured this was still something i would like. I donno it's not terrible but the first half really put me off listening to the rest. It's like it was made to just be a bunch of sounds rather than hold any sort of atmosphere.
I can definitely see the complaints about the first half being a bit dead, for me I didn't really get hooked until Birdcage and then I pretty consistently liked it throughout. Like I said in my original response, I think the first half was going for a really desolate kind of feel, matches the name of the album to me at the very least, but I can see two sides to the coin on it. I liked it, but I felt weary at times.
It was quite enjoyable. It did drag at times and there were certainly some less than stellar numbers, but it was never unpleasant. "Birdcage" and I think the one before it (can't remember the name and am too lazy to look it up) were my favorites.
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