City Of The Asleep: Winter In Tumultua

City of the Asleep, otherwise known as Igliashon Jones, is an Oakland area musician who has released twelve albums under that unusual moniker with Winter In Tumultua being his latest endeavor. As far as I know Jones plays everything himself including mixing and mastering. It is an unusual album and one that will not be for everyone's tastes. The music has its basis in ambient/electronic and often ventures into the realm of experimentalism.

From what I can ascertain this is a concept album and there are processed vocal segments, very robotic in nature, to help propel the story along. Jones uses microtonal scales to achieve his sounds, which at times border on the atonal but may also exhibit some interesting melodies.

"Eight People" is the album's first track starting with an electronically enhanced voice over an ambient/electronic soundscape. It's a mellow sounding tune that smoothly transitions into "Trucks From The Sea", a guitar based track with crisp electronic drum beats and some pretty cool guitar effects. The guitar textures add an aura of moodiness that is common throughout the album.

One of my favourites is the Eastern tinged "Stumblecracks", an up-tempo tune with a cool fuzzed out psychedelic guitar sound. For more cool guitar sounds check out "Daytime Television", one of the stranger blues songs I have heard.

Winter In Tumultua is an adventurous album and when I am in the mood for a more experimental electronic sound it may do the trick. That said, it is not something I will probably reach for that often but if you dig experimental grooves it could scratch that itch. If you are unfamiliar with the artist my advice is to listen to some samples and decide from there.

Track Listing:
1. Eight People
2. Trucks From the Sea
3. This Was All a Mistake
4. Stumblecracks
5. Legacy of an Abandoned Liquor Store
6. Rake the Clouds
7. Electronic Mice in the Walls
8. Enemies of the Sidewalk
9. Where Car Stereos go to Die
10. Freezing the Ports
11. Daytime Television
12. Concrete Windscape

Added: December 28th 2012
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Label's Official Site
Hits: 1871
Language: english

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