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review by Bill Binkelman Performing a 180-degree pirouette from his previous recording, the adult contemporary guitar/ensemble Seconds, guitarist/keyboardist Calvin Coolidge II's Club Tiaj (tee-ah-j) is a trippy fun-filled exploration of assorted electronic music stylings. A fairly wide assortment, in fact, as Coolidge criss-crosses the electronica genre, never seeming to traverse the exact same area twice. This means that those who favor a cohesive music statement may find Club Tiaj either a bit confounding or unfocused. Myself, I think the album is tres cool and a blast and a half. I'll admit the sheer volume of styles on the thirteen tracks is daunting to get used to at first (and no matter how many plays I gave it, I didn't come to love every song here). Just the same, by the third or fourth listen, I started to detect an overall "feel" to the album, so hopefully you will too. The sounds on the CD were made either with synthesizers or Coolidge's guitar (I would hazard a guess it's usually acoustic in nature, although always amplified) However, synthesizers thoroughly dominate the recording. Most of the tracks here reside comfortably in the "pure" electronic music arena, featuring programmed beats, laser-zapping synths, and filled with other trademarks of dance, ambient, chill-out, and trip-hop music. Some songs also contain vague elements of spacemusic and new age music as well. The opening number, "Starfire Dancer," blends amplified acoustic guitar with choral effects and spacy "classic spacy" synths that pretty much accurately reflects the cut's title. "Tribe," which is next, offers up polyrhythmic pumping drums, skitch/glitch beats, and alien outer space synths flying all over the place. "Tropical Peak" is a rapid-fire tempo number, reminiscent of Christopher Franke's solo work, circa Pacific Coast Highway - it's melodic, has a recognizable refrain, is wholly electronic in sound, and is catchy as hell. Coolidge knows his way around the mixing board, too; the album has a wide soundfield and features many cool panning effects. Considering the wide variety of keyboard sounds he uses on Club Tiaj, I was frankly surprised at the level of Coolidge's quality control. I have noticed that, with some artists, the more "kinds" of sounds they try to throw onto a recording, the less discriminating they are. I'll admit that there are some effects on this CD I was not wholly enthusiastic about ("Sparklin'" features an annoying guitar-feedback texture that seems poorly-placed given the other musical "pieces of the puzzle"), but on balance the CD is more than solid enough. Missteps, when present, are minor ones and do not detract from the overall positive reaction I had to the recording's strengths. To my ears, there were only one or two misfiring tracks (e.g. the drum-only "Skins" which is well-executed but obviously somewhat monochromatic compared to the rest of what's here). However, considering how ambitious this album is, I can certainly forgive the artist these instances when his reach exceeded his grasp. Other tracks I enjoyed include the quavering ambient washes of "Sunbeam," the funk-fest beats and quirky synths of "Slither," the Ray Lynchian cascading keyboards of "Spin" (almost to the point of being an outright homage to the new age music pioneer), and the funky guitar and trippy beats of "King Diddy." Best cut honors go to "Blush" which is one killer track, marrying dance/chill-out beats to ebbing and flowing liquid keyboards and Berlin-esque textures. I suppose the audience for a recording like Club Tiaj is similar to that for Jan Hammer's solo offerings (such as Beyond the Mind's Eye or Drive). Coolidge offers up catchy hooks and snappy rhythms, doing both in high style and with high quality production values. I do hope that this isn't one of those recordings that is too "tuneful" for ambient fans and too "dancey" for new age fans, but even if it is, those who like to chill-out with an assortment of music should enjoy much of Club Tiaj. Variety is the spice of life, so they say. Calvin Coolidge II seems to have taken that statement to heart. He has infused this CD with a healthy dose of variety as well as an underlying belief that music should be fun to listen to whenever possible. |
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