How To Dress Well releases its most intimate-sounding album yet with "What Is This Heart?".
how to dress well
Shlohmo - Laid Out
Reviews5 CommentsShlohmo - "Don't Say No" ft. How To Dress Well
New TracksCommentShlohmo drops yet another track from his forthcoming Laid Out EP, which is dropping in March. This particular cut features vocal contributions from alternative R&B pioneer How To Dress Well.
It's a really spacey, detailed track. Not only is there some trap influence coming from the hi-hats, but there's some particularly emotive vocal work toward the end of the track. Who knew these guys could work so well together?
How To Dress Well- Total Loss
Reviews1 CommentOn his second full-length album as How To Dress Well, singer and producer Tom Krell shows some stellar improvements in his production techniques, delivering a set of much clearer songs that sound almost heavenly. If you're down for some adventurous, R&B-influenced dream pop, try it out.
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How To Dress Well- "Cold Nights"
New Tracks2 CommentsThe experimental, dreamy R&B project known as How To Dress Well hasn't always been a favorite of mine. If I remember correctly, my review of its debut album was pretty negative. If there was anything I came away liking from the album, it was the musical vision singer-producer Tom Krell was going for. I just wished the recording quality was better.
How To Dress Well now has a new album on the way titled Total Loss. it's dropping in September, and the recording quality sounds noticeably better this time around. I mean, damn, yeah, it's sounding glossy, atmospheric, and lush.
Yeah, Krell's constant falsetto over spacious instrumentation won't be for everyone, but it is for me--or at least I think that given the beautiful track streaming above.
Active Child- You Are All I See
ReviewsCommentActive Child's sophomore release has some pretty haunting and beautiful sounds. Lone member Pat Grossi's choir boy falsetto is undeniably good. Plus, all the effects he laces into these tracks makes this LP an interesting listen. While I'm not in love with every song on this LP, the sounds are stellar. In my opinion, what's best are the couple tracks where Active Child embraces the sound of experimental R&B. That's an idea I'd love to hear explored further.
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Active Child- "Playing House" (ft. How To Dress Well)
New Tracks2 CommentsI know I joke around in some of these blog posts about "witch house," and the legitimacy of such labels, but let's get serious and talk about something that I don't post a lot of on this blog: R&B.
Of course, R&B is short for "rhythm & blues," but I'm not talking about this. I'm talking about a style that's evolved into radio pop artists like Beyonce and Usher. But the thing about evolution is that it doesn't stop.
Recently, dozens of underground artists have been taking the sound and experimenting with it in various ways with auto-tune, icy electronics, or even darker lyrics. The good people at this tumblr even amassed a mixtape of thirty-two songs in tribute to this growing scene of "indie R&B" artists. I've reviewed a few artists on the playlist, and let's say I wasn't all that positive.
And even though I'm mildly digging on this new track from Active Child, I still can't say I'm totally sold on the style. It features How To Dress Well on vocals, and features some soulful vocals, dark synths, and an atmosphere so cold I can see my breath in it.
Of course, there's auto-tune on this jam, and loads of vocal effects that make me think of Fever Ray--or even that Planningtorock album I reviewed recently.
The track is "Playing House," and it'll be on Active Child's forthcoming album, "You Are All I See," which will be out via Vagrant on August 23rd.
