There’s something that most self-help manuals advise their readers to do every morning. It’s to write down all the things that they’re grateful for. No matter how depressed one is feeling they guarantee that after jotting down a few things — no matter how prosaic it may seem — it’s guaranteed to make one feel a whole lot better. Whether it’s having a nice, hot breakfast or having a roof to stay under, it’s surprising how writing it all down does wonders to one’s mental state.
Cognitive therapy practitioners put it down simply to the fact that our thoughts dictate our moods. Think happy: be happy. Or — in the words of George Clinton — “free your mind and your ass will follow.”
Before you think we’re just riffing off The Secret or Feel The Fear But Do It Anyway (you’d be correct, of course), let’s rattle off a few things that one should be grateful for. Like, for example, the upcoming albums of several artists in the coming weeks. (One of the perks of occasionally reviewing music is that you get to listen to these things ahead of everyone else, which also occasionally happens to be one of its drawbacks.)
Electronica outfit Drip’s second album, “Identity Theft,” builds from the rather cold architecture of its predecessor to reach vertiginous heights. The height and ambition of which can be heard from its first track, coincidentally titled Fallen. Sniper-precise, the song begins with Beng Calma’s vocal sounding as menacing as a predatory swoop and as enticing as a torch singer swoon. But this is mere preamble to what follows as soon as the rest of the band joins the fray.
Groove-hungrier than the last time around, songs such as Faultless (featuring Radioactive Sago Project/Wahijuara guitarist Junji Lerma) and live favorite Swanker demonstrate their multifarious arsenal of beats. On the latter, it seems particularly single-minded in its intent: from the elemental pounding of its rhythms to howling wind delivery of the vocal. If nothing else, the music is as tight as rows of perfect Tetris blocks.
But apart from that, it’s quite audible that they haven’t forsaken the gorgeous pop of previous hit Song Number 9. Rather, songs like initial single Morning After Pill show a refinement of their craft that allows their sophisticated arrangements to effortlessly play off of but remain unobtrusive on the melodic hooks. On tracks like Listening its appeal is almost un-electronic in that it’s almost as if the boys in the band decided to pick up and play actual band instruments instead of hard-drives and drum machines. (But with better production values.)
The album also features other guests such as Sound’s Sach Castillo on the aforementioned single and Up Dharma Down’s Armi Millare on Blood-Letting, the album’s slow-breather. Love in a colder climate, indeed.
“Identity Theft” is the group’s first LP with underground hip-hop figure Caliph8 on turntables and beat samples. Whether or not it’s his influence, the album seems more well rounded than their debut, “Far Side of the World,” but it’s perhaps more accurate to attribute this development to the group becoming more cohesive as a unit. But whatever it is, it’s clear that for Drip the party’s really just about to begin.