Adventure Time is a project helmed by downtempo luminaries Daedelus and Frosty. It is conceptual only in that it makes you woozy well before the proper cocktail hour, and takes lounge snippets to aural infrastructures that render the samples ghostly in nature. There is a water motif running through some moments and interludes, but it takes a backseat to the superior grace, chilling rhythms, and dreamy harmonics of these songs. Saul Williams does guest vocals on "Sent from Sandy Shores," and if you've heard him before, you can pretty much guess what to expect. But the beat going behind him is too seductive for the vocals to matter all that much.
The cleverly titled "Age of Aquariums" puts the group’s most accessible foot forward and brings up the rear with an untitled 13th track that seeps and leaks into your system with goosebump-inducing aplomb. "Water Signs" is a troublefunk party starter with an interesting and unconventional use of counter rhythms and discordant harmonies. This is further exemplified (with a different instrument) on the following track, "Eel Sand Witch." Adventure Time takes the best parts of Daedelus to Frosty (admittedly new to me), and the result is something that could simply be an exceptionally engaging, head-reeling chill-out session for you and and yr many yours. Due to its fun-loving, quirkily sexy feel, Dreams of Water Themes is excellent party music, even if it isn't wholly danceable.
As far as touchstones go, I would suggest Tipsy with less lounge and more bunky beats. Track eight, with the aforementioned Saul Williams, has a female sung chorus that made me realize the whole song should have been sung. Nothing against Williams, but I heard something in the woman's voice in combination with the music that calls for further exploration. "Girl of the Well" is another highlight, showing an affinity for Latin and African rhythms while simultaneously reminding one of music in The Wicker Man. Like Savath and Savalas on his new album, Adventure Time is taking hip-hop hybridizing to an artfully salient extent. These artists seem to enjoy their fair share of genres, and they don't seem to limit themselves as to what they let into their own sound. With the right touches, as with the pulsating, driving jazz piano workout of "Kappabashi," the marriage can be bizarrely evocative and inviting.
1. The Age of Aquariums
2. My Musical Friend
3. Whetting Whistles
4. Water Signs
5. Eel Sand Witch
6. General MIDI vs. Rusty 4Eyes
7. Kids Say the Darndest Things
8. Sent from Sandy Shores
9. Girl of the Well
10. Water Plop
11. Kappabashi
12. Hypnotized Arms
13. Untitled
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