album review: theophilus london. timez are weird these days. 3 october 2011. warner brothers records
(buy here)

so, the man with the coolest name in music finally releases his debut album proper after three mixtapes of varying quality. it’s been three years since jam! found its way onto the interweb and people started asking who this theophilus london was. one or two tracks stood out from that but it wasn’t until the follow up, this charming mixtape that i started to take notice. as well as the re-inclusion of the best song from jam, ‘ultraviolet’, it was this release that included the excellent ‘grey x sage’ and even better ‘humdrum town’. couple that with an album title and front cover that pays homage to elvis costello and i was fully sold in. by the time i want you dropped in last year mr london was officially the “next big thing”. he was on the guardian’s buzz graph. he stole a lindsay lohan starring muse video and made it a hell of a more stylish for a cover of ‘oops’. he was regularly being featured in style etiquette and had become a certified style icon.

with the hype now at levels not seen since ofwgkta the week before, how could london possibly ensure a good album? getting dan carey, a man who has worked with css and hot chip among others, to produce isn’t a bad place to start.

just in case anybody has missed the build up to the album it starts with ‘last name london’ in an effort to ensure that everybody knows who’s album this is. it’s a nice start and a good reflection of a lot of the good things from this charming mixtape. the theme of keeping hold of the sound of the mixtapes stays strong when holly miranda’s voice kicks in on ‘love is real’, a track that will offend nobody but delight some. the track also shows off some of the record’s diversity, especially when compared to ‘why even try’, which features sara from tegan and… fame.

it is the variation in sound within the album that is both its biggest strength and weakness. ‘wine and chocolates’ is a wonderful track and is theophilus at his best. he just can’t seem to resist putting shit like ‘girls girls $’ on there as well though.

7

this review originally appeared on the 405

this place isn’t the only victim of my current lack of time. i’m meant to be reviewing theophilus london’s debut album timez are weird these days for the 405 but just haven’t had a chance. i’m sorry oliver. if it helps, this is my favourite track on the record. it’s up there with ‘humdrum town’ et al from his early mixtapes. i really enjoy his sample rich soulful hip hop. at it’s best it is almost tv on the radio in it’s style. he’ll then drop in a rhyme in the middle and it is this that gives him his own identity. he’s also one stylish motherfucker. he knows it too.

now i know why theophilus london kept mentioning lindsay lohan on twitter. this is the video to his take (i don’t like to call his work covers) on tweet’s hit (?… was it? i can’t remember, but i think so) from a few years ago. not the first time mr london has elected to use a promo with a girl in a bedroom being all sexual and shit.

i promised you a post about theophilus london (coolest name in music. fact) and here it is. i wanted to write about him because he’s a bit of a love/hate artist i feel. when i first wrote about him on the original sockformation i gushed about him. a lot. i’d only heard ‘this charming mixtape’ at the time, and i was in love. i seriously rate that mixtape with his work on futurecop sampling ‘humdrum town’ and the superb ‘grey x sage’ the highlights continue with ‘cold pillow’ and i could really keep talking about it all day.

i’ve been listening to his other two mixtapes, the michael jackson inspired ‘jam’ and his latest offering, ‘i want you’, over the past few weeks though. i don’t mean to pull out a cliche, but this is marmite music. there are some tracks that just don’t work in my opinion. i won’t pick on any particular tracks (except for his work on vampire weekend’s ‘giving up the gun’. i will mention that one) but i really can’t make my mind up about these two.i’m not sure if it is the choice of original material isn’t as good as that on ‘this charming mixtape’ or he is just trying different styles while he masters his craft. maybe i just sets my expectations too high based on my first experiences of him.

i understand that there are plans afoot for a proper album next year and i can’t wait for that. there is no doubt that the man has skills, he is fucking cool in more than just his name. he takes geek chic to new extremes and is a real breath a fresh air for hip hop in this age of kanye west twitter ridiculousness. i look forward to hearing more.

by the way, this is still a positive post. i don’t want to end up like the guardian man. actually, that would be pretty cool thinking about it.