Search - Koushik :: Be With

Koushik

Episkonte | Bloomington, Indiana | 06/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Koushik is on Peanut Butter Wolf's "Stones Throw" label. That said, it's hard to expect anything less than a 3.5 from the musician of such a reputable label, given the quality of his peers: Madlib, Dudley Perkins, Milosh, etc. Koushik, somehow, manages to roll with the best of the label's offerings despite lacking the notoriety that some of the aforementioned artists have.



"Be With" is a real charmer. Coming in at less than half an hour in length, it's amazing that it can be as memorable and consistently awesome as it is, especially with 15 tracks on the album. Due to the length of the overall album (which is a combination of two LPs), most of the tracks are about two minutes in length. Part of me wishes that they could be longer but another part of me is happy that they aren't since they would then have the potential to get repetitive. It's difficult to classify Koushik into any particular genre, really. He's been considered hip hop by some, due to his beats, but I think "chill" (for those of you who call that a genre) would be more fitting.



Several tracks on the album, while having a hip hop or breakbeat foundation, are softer and more endearing than most hip hop or breakbeats tend to be. He's much like DJ Shadow in this regard and "Endtroducing" could easily be a cousin of "Be With" in tone and mood. Koushik makes the beats even more charming and playful by including singing on several of the tracks. For several electronic musicians, the inclusion of singing has the capacity to degrade the quality of some of the music itself. Koushik is not one of them. His singing, which constantly sounds like it's filtered through a cloud to make it even more softer and less intrusive than it would be to begin with, blends astonishingly well with the organic sound of the track's drums, flutes, and guitar strings. It reminds me of the scene in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" where the main character is walking through the graveyard and the entire scene is filmed through white pantyhose. The result is a mis en scene drenched in a soft glow and ethereal atmosphere. The album, equally ethereal, sounds like one giant collage of harmonies juxtaposed with a perfect result regardless of which order you listen to any of the songs.



"Be With" is perfect spring music. Much like Dj Shadow's "Endtroducing" or Daedelus's "Invention", I can listen to it either passively or actively and enjoy it just as much either way. But of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from a Stones Throw musician. While less than 30 minutes, the album is easily worth twice as much as most LPs in quality. The album is a perfect example of the adage that "Less Is More"."

"this is the title for my review!"

common problem | Ann Arbor, MI United States | 01/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"hello. so i just recieved my copy of koushik's "be with" today from amazon.com. what a day! its like i always say, "there are days, and there are DAYS!" "be with" is a quality album, having listened to it twice in a row (it is well short). i would say it sounds like manitoba (with the singing aspect of up in flames) and rjd2 mixed and matched and blended just so. maybe a pinch of dj shadow's drum programming on occasion. only a pinch though. i would say i'm happy with it. a good intro to hopefully a quality artist! peace."