Album title be damned, the music of "Lo-Fi Matter" demands far richer production than poor Tyler seems to have available at his fingertips. This tragedy should not last long. On "Lo-Fi Matter," Jakes displays great range and talent as a song writer. Not only does he play all the instruments himself, but he displays a knack for finding hooks in all sorts of places, be it a rollicking bass line, howling harmonica riff, screaming guitar blast, or a melodic line of acoustic finger plucking. Jakes' music comes across as an amalgam of blues, folk, and punk baring the undeniable imprint of his travels through Eastern Europe.
With a voice slightly reminiscent of Axl Rose, except far more haggard and stressed (which, come to think of it, is probably what Axl sounds like these days), Jakes comes across like a hard rocking Tom Waits with the guitar sensibilities of Robert Pollard. The downtrodden rasp of Jakes' throaty vocals makes the Tom Waits comparison an easy one, but moments like the creaking guitar overdubs in the first verse of "Uh Huh Huh," and the intro to "Elevator To the Sun" where gypsy flavored classical guitar melts into humming electric fuzz, recall the production color and musical eclecticism of some of Pollard's strongest work.
Lyrically, Jakes is a social observationalist. Less set on espousing his own view than de-shrouding the behavior of the rest of us, when he does take on first person narrative it comes as sarcastic reflection. On tracks like "Junction 29," and the afore mentioned "Uh Huh Huh," words spill out like a ray of amped beatnik stream of consciousness. In fact, the whole album, disparate and adventurous as it is, seems like a recorded document of spontaneous artistic bloodletting. Somebody get this man some more canvas!
www.tylerjakes.com
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