22 Dec 2024
Daniel Hayles - Album Review: Other Futures
03 Mar 2022 // A review by Callum Wagstaff
Daniel Hayles is a piano and keyboard player, performing regularly in a
variety of styles and settings. He also writes and arranges music for
local and international artists, bands and shows.
His album, Other Futures, is constructed around improvised bursts of piano, with puffs of synth and percussion, pulsing bass, held together by sample-based beats born in the golden era of hip-hop.
Other Futures is an excellent accompaniment to a video game session and plays like "lo-fi hip-hop beats to study to" with the addition of a friendly ghost improvising over it. The room quality of the piano fits with the beats in a way that feels like you're a child playing in the doorway of your aunt's kitchen that uses plastic tassels instead of a door and she's got the turntable on in the other room but the incense smoke is starting to drift towards you.
The album is fit to accompany any puzzling, reading or coffee imbibing activity. In particular, songs like Puffs and Jabs, Neo Dela Piano and The Discount have a "sunny bay window seat" quality to them.
There's a couple of moments where the agreeable tone of the music forces you to look up from your book and take active notice; the title track Other Futures has a distinct limp that refuses to be relegated to background music. A couple of songs like Nyagashiru have bass note stabs that have a similar gait. The end of Herbaceous has a meaty synth outro that sounds like cancer being burned out of your retinas. Some songs have slight discolourations and odd quirks.
The Coder and Echo Dance Part 1 in particular both sound like an old, detuned TV would look, with hues sitting just outside the normal sphere in a conspicuous way. Like purple skin, yellow jumpsuits and cyan grass.
A standout track for me was Samba, which, given the warble and the context of the other tracks, felt like the "please stand by" music accompanying technical difficulties in a public access TV channel.
My favourite track was Choir Jam. It's pensive and anxious, but emotionally balanced. It felt like it moved me from one headspace to another over the course of the song. Choir Jam had a poise and presence that I really enjoyed and felt in my guts.
It's been a fun ride getting to know these songs. Hayles has his fingers in a lot of pies, so you can check out other stuff he's been involved with at danielhayles.com and dip your toe into his world.
Daniel Hayles is a piano and keyboard player, performing regularly in a
variety of styles and settings. He also writes and arranges music for
local and international artists, bands and shows. His album, Other Futures, is constructed around improvised bursts of piano, with puffs of synth and percussion, pulsing bass, held together by sample-based beats born in the golden era of hip-hop.
Other Futures is an excellent accompaniment to a video game session and plays like "lo-fi hip-hop beats to study to" with the addition of a friendly ghost improvising over it. The room quality of the piano fits with the beats in a way that feels like you're a child playing in the doorway of your aunt's kitchen that uses plastic tassels instead of a door and she's got the turntable on in the other room but the incense smoke is starting to drift towards you.
The album is fit to accompany any puzzling, reading or coffee imbibing activity. In particular, songs like Puffs and Jabs, Neo Dela Piano and The Discount have a "sunny bay window seat" quality to them.
There's a couple of moments where the agreeable tone of the music forces you to look up from your book and take active notice; the title track Other Futures has a distinct limp that refuses to be relegated to background music. A couple of songs like Nyagashiru have bass note stabs that have a similar gait. The end of Herbaceous has a meaty synth outro that sounds like cancer being burned out of your retinas. Some songs have slight discolourations and odd quirks.
The Coder and Echo Dance Part 1 in particular both sound like an old, detuned TV would look, with hues sitting just outside the normal sphere in a conspicuous way. Like purple skin, yellow jumpsuits and cyan grass.
A standout track for me was Samba, which, given the warble and the context of the other tracks, felt like the "please stand by" music accompanying technical difficulties in a public access TV channel.
My favourite track was Choir Jam. It's pensive and anxious, but emotionally balanced. It felt like it moved me from one headspace to another over the course of the song. Choir Jam had a poise and presence that I really enjoyed and felt in my guts.
It's been a fun ride getting to know these songs. Hayles has his fingers in a lot of pies, so you can check out other stuff he's been involved with at danielhayles.com and dip your toe into his world.
Rating:
( 4 / 5 )
About Daniel Hayles
His latest album Other Futures was released March 4th of 2022.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Daniel Hayles
Releases
Other Reviews By Callum Wagstaff
SD-2100 - Album Review: Not Bred to Feel the Fat
29 Oct 2024 // by Callum Wagstaff
Sam Densem, better known as SD-2100 (a brand of metal detector but that's not what he's named after), is aggressively prolific. By the time this review is published he's already released two more EP's and a compilation.
Read More...
Saurian - EP Review: Bled Dry
09 Sep 2024 // by Callum Wagstaff
From Dunedin, New Zealand comes Saurian, a four-piece hard rock band with a new EP called Bled Dry which came out Friday the 13th of September. The 5 song EP includes the band's latest 3 singles, Devil Among Men, Down at the Crown, and Park Bench.
Read More...
Moider Mother - Album Review: Miracle Healing Crusade
28 Apr 2024 // by Callum Wagstaff
"Take a pinch of Raincoats, add a tablespoon of early Swans, sauté in the first Stooges album and add half a brick. Put it in a sock.
Read More...
Swamp Rat Collective - EP Review: Flash Sneakers
16 Apr 2024 // by Callum Wagstaff
The Swamp Rat Collective is a dirty, matted tangle of influences from the guitar music of the era between the late 80's and early 2000's. The project is a collaboration between Paul Cowsill (rhythm and bass guitar) and Adam Gatt (lead guitar) that crosses the ocean, comprising parties from Auckland, New Zealand as well as London, UK.
Read More...
Daniel Ashcroft - Album Review: Chica De La Bum
05 Feb 2024 // by Callum Wagstaff
Daniel Ashcroft is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer based in Feilding.His musical goals are simple: He wants to play every instrument he possibly can, explore every genre and collaborate with as many singers as possible.
Read More...
Dub Asylum - EP Review: Time & Space EP
19 Nov 2023 // by Callum Wagstaff
Dub Asylum is the musical alias for Peter McLennan, former member of 90's reggae-thrash-punk-ska mutants the Hallelujah Picassos. Now working solo, Peter McLennan's Dub Asylum is a musical mash-up of dub reggae, hip-hop and funk.
Read More...
Bad Jelly Collective - EP Review: WESTBOUND&DOWN
10 Oct 2023 // by Callum Wagstaff
Bad Jelly Collective is the brainchild of 'Bad Jelly' Ben. Tucked away in his Huia road Home Studio in the Waitakere Ranges, Ben weaves his psychedelic soundscapes together with the creative forces of his team of musical mates.
Read More...
Album Review: Cautionary Tales
16 Aug 2023 // by Callum Wagstaff
Cautionary Tales is an alt-rock band based in Aotearoa, via Berlin and New York. It's an art-rock outfit built around the type of myths and legends where somebody gets screwed over for riding a scorpion or not tipping an old lady.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
Custom Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
