While giving this new Chimp Beams album a first listen, I found myself floating in a world of Twin Peaks dialogue, Lost in Translation imagery, and gut-wrenching Six Feet Under montages. Yes, it's that good. This electronic dub trio has been repping Brooklyn via Japan for a while now, and they do it with respect and consistency. Among the band members' side hustles is those fancy Concent accessories (type "Concent" in search) that you all love to buy from us. They also host great dub parties at BPM Studio, one of Williamsburg's best kept secrets. In between all that they make songs like "Menina(1)" which could easily have been too uplifting in the wrong hands, but damn if this nugget of joy doesn't make me want to walk through a garden in the rain with someone I love. If he had only had a boombox instead of a torch, I feel like Short Round could've used this song on Indy in the Temple of Doom to break him out of his evil spell. "11217(2)" already had me cradled as it was my first zip code in Brooklyn. The gritty pretty vibe has me open right now. You didn't know the slope was real like that, son! The somewhat sloppy dubs kill it in this one. They give me the same feeling in my stomach as I get walking down 5th Ave looking in the windows of coffee shops and restaurants at faces of people I will never know. I just read a line in a bell hooks book that says: "We do not know the truth that to be seen and not known is the ultimate abandonment." Welcome to New York City, baby. These Beams are really good at capturing the NY merging of endless possibility and bountiful potential for incredible lonliness. The mixture makes for really beautiful music and a really depressing review. It should be noted that I just watched a lot of "Sex in the City" and I have a stomach virus, a fever and a bumping headache right now. It's not that I retract anything I've said, but you may want to determine the depth on your own. Listen to the heavy happy of "Brooklyn Dub(3)", "Winter Song(4)", and "Dubzillian(5)" for a more complete taste. The cd and vinyl versions have different tracks but don't worry, you can buy them both.
