Philbryte: "Imperfection"

Imperfection is the bastard love child of electronic sound, lo-fi indie rock, and old-school hip-hop at its best. Or, to put it another way, it revels in a rebellion against categorization.

The album is more a feat in layering than in melting or mixing. Tracks pile sampled-sounding monotone vocals, twangy '70s guitar lines, floating harmonic choruses reminiscent of Brit-pop bands, and '80s Casio keyboard melodies in abundance over an always-kicking synthesizer tech beat. The styles and sounds are folded into one another with effortless precision so that no one line is forced to give up its flavor for another. There is no whitewashing here, only a thoughtful and intricate conversation.

In "Poor But Honest," Philbryte's lo-fi vocals rattle off a stream of rhymes, clichés, and oxymorons with the tongue-in-cheek wit that weaves the album together in a sort of social commentary. In "A Little Bit," the alternating rough and garbled, crisp and clear vocals thread through the spiraling electric guitar and bass to recall at once the garage-band feel of groups whose names no one ever learned, and the polished consumer-friendly sound of bands whose names no one will ever be able to forget. Toward the end of the album, the jazz, R&B, and '90s hip-hop influences begin to rear their shiny-clean faces in the form of soaring vocals and brass instruments of various types, adding unexpected--but somehow perfectly appropriate--layers to tracks like "Picture Yourself" and "The Beast."

Philbryte's music is not just different for different's sake; it's a trans-genre integration of what he finds appealing and worthwhile in the music world. It's a utopian musical community, where grainy spoken hip-hop vocals and squealing indie guitar lines can not only peacefully co-exist, but also inform and play off one another, achieving what neither could do alone. Or, to put it another way, it's more than just a little bit all ryght. (Ignition Records)

--Meredith Gordon

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