James Pants James Pants (Stones Throw)
2/5
By: Theo Krekis
James Pants is a moniker which will stand out amidst the other James (insert name here) types on one’s iTunes, but sadly not for many reasons other than his name is quite silly.
Early on in my listen, I did question whether James Pants could nicely parody or satirise contemporary electronic or hip hop music in a playful yet intellectual manner, consisting as it seemed to of over-elaborate futuristic sounds combined in a busy yet enjoyably curious way. Sure, its shelf life might be limited, but criticisms against a man named James Pants seemed at this moment to be pointless –his name is James Pants.
I thought I might have been about to embark on quite the marvellous voyage. Alas however, my mind had gotten the better of me once again. After a few listens, where it was once curious, the opening ‘Beta’ becomes somewhat excruciating, nothing more than a dull repetitive electronic loop whilst the reverb from a distorted guitar smothers your ears unnecessarily. Vocals come in somewhere along the way, but at that point you’ll be already clicking ‘next track please’ – and do not delay. For ‘Every Night’ has a much more pleasant feel to it, with the same recipe of repeated electronic sounds mixed with guitar melodies, yet when the vocals come in this time, it’s in a manner far more fitting to the airy, summer feel of the music – and you’ll be much more inclined to pay attention.
Elsewhere, ‘Darlin’ and ‘Clouds over the Pacific’ find James Pants most successfully flexing his artistic muscle, but numbers like ‘Incantation’ lack any structure and sound more like a medley of annoying sounds made from someone too pissed to play the keyboard. It’s frustrating to say the least.
At times James Pants has its/his laudable moments, and then it has others which make you question if annoying his listenership was the only thing he was trying to achieve. For an artist to explore such a wide scope of different sounds and genres – from soul to electro boogie, backpack hip hop to new wave – and still not really seem as if any of them really fit leaves me in the mindset that it’s difficult to really congratulate him all that much on his achievements.
James Pants - Alone by stonesthrow
Artists in this article: James Pants
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