Released - 8/11/09
Label - Plug
BLURB - It's amazing what one man can accomplish nowadays. Green Tea spoils his listeners with a parade of timeless grooves traversing the last three decades of music, while somehow remaining new. The DJ combines rich bass lines with strings, synth, guitars, keyboards and even a fair amount of flute play. Quite the pairing risk, but it comes off sincere and unforced. The entire album is extremely danceable, in a very laid back fashion. The only flaw is that portions can become monotonous as Green Tea's distinct feel and vibe clearly resonates throughout the entire record. Nonetheless, a great debut.
RATING - 8 out of 10
FULL STORY - R&B, electronic, disco, rock, pop and hip hop laced tones can be found in nearly each of the album's 13 tracks. Despite the fact that this formula works brilliantly, Green Tea's musical fulcrum never really bends too far. Cautious and predictable would be two adjectives one could use to describe, "Places + Spaces." Each song appears to be have been baked on the same cookie sheet, with many tracks sounding similar. But before you jump to any conclusions, let me unequivocally state that this is not a bad thing. Here's why. With DJ's, so many times the emphasis gets put on having this killer "beat." "Oh man, that beat's hot," or "did you hear that crazy beat" are often phrases the less informed used to describe songs, myself included. While having a great beat is certainly a positive and can really help drive a song, it does not alone make the song - or at least it shouldn't. It's like making a salad with only lettuce.
What Green Tea does well on this album is establish some kind of beat or groove, that while it does serve as the foundation, it is not limited to one function and gets subtly de- and re-emphasized. Green Tea accomplishes this by shifting the audiences attention to and from the beat with an infinite amount of hooks, leads and riffs. Whether it is a high synth lead, a distorted guitar, or an all together silence leaving only the rhythm of the snare hits, there is always substantive factors contributing and improving upon the beat. The use and manipulation of motifs is also something that is undervalued in music today. Green Tea admirably creates, reverses, speeds up and twists motifs, forming a satiable experience for his audience to soak up.
The other facet of this album I really enjoyed is how much it feels like a live band. "Places + Spaces" sounds unmistakably similar to Lotus's, "Nomad" one of my favorite albums of all time. Lotus is more or less a perfect fusion of rock, jazz, r&b and electronic rolled up into a jam band that is not afraid to experiment. So for a DJ to be compared to them is certainly high praise. Fans of Elliot Lipp, Lotus, Pnuma Trio and STS9 will likely become fans of this relaxing collection of electronic tracks.
Two cuts on this record feature performances by another Plug Label artist, Kero One. This emcee fits Green Tea's vibe brilliantly. His verses and phrasing are very hook friendly and can get stuck in your head instantly. This is also helped by the duo's intrinsic simplicity, as they never try to do too much and avoid flooding tracks with unneeded rhymes or cluttered sounds. 'Future Classic and 'Yes Party People' feature Kero One and are great examples of how well each accents the other.
Some of the other signature instrumental tracks on this record include 'Jazzy Joint,' 'Thinking of a Master Plan' and 'Words Left Unspoken.' If your looking for some music to kick back and relax to, these are definitely a couple must-haves. Portions may become repetitive and redundant, but everyone has a learning curve and this will remain a great starting point for Green Tea
Tracks
1.) Something Like This
2.) Maximum Joy
3.) Dew Drops in the Garden
4.) Cruise Control
5.) Jazzy Joint
6.) Future Classic
7.) Words Left Unspoken
8.) Porto Seguro
9.) Thinking of a Master Plan
10.) Yes Party People
11.) Eclectic Relaxation
12.) The Waiting Game
13.) Cruise Control 2.0
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