Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
May 2, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Trillion & Artikai: Waking Time

Waking TimeTrillion & Artikai

Waking Time

(Independent/Bandcamp)

Having recorded under various names including Trillion, Jody O. Lloyd and Dark Tower, the music of Jody Lloyd is always easy to like, not always easy to classify – he made first waves as a home-grown hip-hop guy, unashamedly Kiwi with that twangy accent and the Baggy Trousers song and then it’s been under the Trillion name that he’s evolved to take in world music and dance music ideas, to confront the singer/songwriter model and conflate that with the role of producer. Here he pairs with pianist Arron Artikai to make Waking Time, a record conceived in Ubud, Bali in late 2013.

The aim was to make a record with a budget – just $40 was allowed to be spent on locally made Balinese instruments, these included shakers, thumb piano, one-stringed guitar, metal and bamboo xylophones, slide whistle, hand drums, a plastic bag, pots and pans – but the key to it all really, and the reason the record developed in the way it did was the meeting with Artikai. A sensitive piano player, he dots and dashes in and around the slow-churning hypnotic grooves and slight vocal chant-mantras that Lloyd creates. It’s a lovely, lo-fi album of softly surprising hues, but it’s that gentle tickle and trickle of piano that informs every loping, lovely step.

The closing Lost In Transformation is the beautiful culmination of it all, the perfect reverie to end on, to sweep you away, to suggest that it’s actually something that never ended, nor started, just a moment in time, caught right in the middle.

Posted in Blog, Reviews and tagged with Album Review, Arron Artikai, Bandcamp, Dark Tower, Jody Lloyd, Jody O. Lloyd, Trillion, Trillion & Artikai, Waking Time. RSS 2.0 feed.
« The LEGO Movie: Film
The Vinyl Countdown # 1137 »

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Sweetman Podcast: Episode 73 – Janna Lapidus Leblanc
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Neil Peart Was The World’s Most Overrated Drummer
  • A Very Benign And In-Character Midlife Crisis: I’m Back Buying CDs
  • Tea With Terrorists: Theatre
  • David Bowie’s Most Underrated Album: 1. Outside
  • Bring Concert Films Back To the Big Screen

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ Drums DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press