holy smokes. okay, real quick, before you hit play, go find some good headphones and a quiet room and turn it up as loud as you can take it. this is going smack of hyperbole, but it honestly sounds like the fleet foxes, justin vernon, james blake and the avett bros all got together and made an album just for me. an album, i should add, that just leapt into the top spot for best album of the year so far. incidentally, he’s just announced some tour dates with the band whose album he replaced at the top of that list. genius loves company. mercy what a sound…

so far this year, no artist has gotten more hype than james blake. he is on basically every list of 2011 up-and-comers. everybody from kcrw to the bbc seems to be completely enamored of him. so when i went the emusic to check things out, i was expecting something relatively accessible. something unique and cool sounding, but also palatable to a reasonably general audience. what i heard instead was actually unlike anything i’d ever heard before. i still don’t really even know how to describe it. at its most basic it’s probably dubstep, but it’s layered with these quasi melodies and crazy harmonies that sound more like zapped out R&B. it’s awesome but it’s totally avant garde. and to be honest, i can’t believe that so many major media outlets are lining up to love this. i mean, it’s easy for me to love, i don’t have to market this madness. but even if you’re a jaded exec you can’t really deny there’s something pretty brilliant happening here, and all i can say is ups to the big boys for having the grapes to get behind it. -d