Short things often get a bad rap. Be it little people, short stories, short tempers or heaven forbid, short albums. But why are those such a bad thing? Albuquerque artist Lowercase Noises new album, I’ve Been Lying Open / A Little Time With the Tree’s Roots is a small middle finger to any who doubts the magnitude of tiny things. With just two tracks, each one half of the album title, Lowercase Noises is an all caps slow jam that will make you feel as if you just happy-cried. That sounds deep. For just two essentially smoldering tracks it builds into something transformative with which to face a stressful world. Lowercase’s star, also known as Andy, says his forever and always goal is to play the guitar as slowly as possible; I can definitely attest that this is true and alluringly so. With its succulent slow jam properties, this record is is bliss in a blip. This album achieves greatness with brevity. It demonstrates that—like short shorts, short speeches—short albums are just fine in a world that may seem at times overwhelming and just a bit too large.
DJ Teach The Average Tapes EP (Self-released)
Here is a saying about being average: it doesn’t get you very far. This is not so with DJ Teach and his newly minted EP The Average Tapes which excels and finds this teacher at the front of the class—well in front of the median crop of generic DJ artists, that is. Self described as a man who shows middle schoolers how to DJ, Teach has designed his album to be a somewhat complex music lesson. Each track has distinguished beats, tonality and technical structure. For example what you hear in the synth heavy intro, “DJ Teach: A Basic Introduction” is a far cry from its follow up, “The Median Value” and its earthy and natural sounding approach to musical storytelling. Consequently this album plays out like an argument over what the term average may mean in a music culture that is so complex and beat-driven. Maybe, but who are we to judge? Professor Teach, you have taught me something today: don’t let yourself be treated as average. If the rhythm and the hunger to be an artist is in you, go after it. Take whatever that intangible desire is and make it your own.
