Tito Ramsey – Hi Lo EP
(2011, self-released)
I always find it fascinating when an artist chooses to make a stark stylistic change, making a sharp left turn in genre, feel, or instrumentation all at once rather than the usual gradual developments and shifts that happen over the course of most musicians’ careers. The results are often fresh and surprising, of course, but they can also reveal the consistent elements that lie at the core of who that artist is.
I first became aware of Tito Ramsey a couple of years ago, when he submitted a track, “Stay in Line,” which ended up appearing on Ball of Wax Volume 19. That song, and his set at the Volume 19 release show, were dark, brooding, and guitar-based. Through-composed songs took strange turns and threw unexpected chords and time signatures at you, but the general mood was introspective and intense. (None of which is meant to be a dig; introspective and intense is one of my favorite musical modes.)
So imagine my surprise when Tito sent me his new EP, Hi Lo, a collection of electronic songs built primarily around synths and beats, with his vocals taking on an appealingly soulful crooning quality without veering into winking irony. (I love Beck’s Midnite Vultures as much as the next guy, but it’s clear for most of it that the guy’s just screwing around, however brilliantly.) There are still guitars here, and more chords than most indie rockers have ever heard of, and some darkness as well, but the end result is a very different beast. There are very few moments on Hi Lo where the first reaction is not to bob your head or tap your feet (even in 7/4, as on “It Takes Control”).
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But this is very far from brainless, sunny club music. As ignorant as I am of a lot of electronic music, I realize that the genre Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) has been around for quite some time at this point. I kind of hate that name for any number of reasons, but it does seem to be at least a decent starting point for talking about Hi Lo. Lyrically, rhythmically, sonically, and in terms of musical complexity, this is smart, interesting, sophisticated music. But at the same time – especially having seen Ramsey perform this stuff live, pumping his head up and down manically as he switches between keyboards, foot pedals, drum pads, and microphone – most of it is in service to the rhythm.
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It is, in 2011, not remotely revolutionary to posit that one can dance to interesting music or hear subtleties in dance music, but it’s still refreshing and exciting to see someone create such music so successfully out of whole cloth. I’m excited to see what comes next for Ramsey in this vein; whether it’s an LP made with the same one-guy-in-his-apartment-with-Logic approach or an expansion with more live musicians, the next step after the very promising Hi Lo is bound to be great.