Events

Adam Freeland LIVE

FREELAND – COPE™
Released May 2009

Come spring 2009, iconoclastic producer/DJ Adam Freeland will release Cope, his first artist album in six years, on his own independent Marine Parade label. Like his 2003 solo album debut Now&Them and its uncompromising worldwide smash “We Want Your Soul,” Freeland’s much-anticipated latest traffics in the unexpected—electro beats banging enough to fill dancefloors, yet twisted with sounds and collaborations from uncharted waters. Indeed, Cope ultimately proves a genre-smashing, era-defining call to arms on par with Leftfield’s Leftism, Prodigy’s Fat Of The Land, Daft Punk’s Discovery and Justice’s †, defying expectations of what an electronic album should and could be.

Yes, Cope features its share of club killers, like the storming “Morning Sun”; however, instead of ye olde prog fromage, “Morning Sun” gets laced with Freeland’s raw, hard-rocking “e-drone” grooves, aided by akimbo guitars courtesy Joey Santiago (Pixies) and sinister low end courtesy Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails). Tracks like the driving, gritty  “Borderline”—co-written with Brody Dalle of Spinnerette/Distillers, with a raw, eerie vocal by Dalle—show Freeland’s ability to blend electronic charge with artfully confessional songwriting. Likewise, “Only A Fool,” Freeland’s epic collaboration with Jerry Casale of DEVO, proves a Krautrock apocalyptica anthem for the entire family. Indeed, psychedelic drone rock redolent of Freeland’s move from his native U.K. to the California desert reverberates throughout Cope, from the swirling shoegaze of “Silent Speaking” (written and performed with Brooklyn Pitchfork faves SoundPool) to the heartwrenching, Sigur Ros-like “Mancry,” an epic modal soundscape anchored by thundering percussion courtesy Tommy Lee (yes, that Tommy Lee). Meanwhile, “Do Ya” proves totally uncategorizable—imagine DJ Shadow given a Mooged-out Krautrock retrofit by Can with Bonham sitting in on drums, and you get the idea. Co-produced  by Marine Parade’s latest producer-DJ star Alex Metric (Autokratz, Locarnos, Black Daniel, Hard-Fi, Eddy Temple’s “Remixer of the Year 2007,” Annie Nightingale’s BBC alternate) and mixed primarily by Alex Greggs of South Rakkas Crew fame (Yo Majesty!, Beenie Man, and, er, N*Sync), with Cope Freeland and crew give dance music a crucially heretical wake-up call.

Most of all, while standout tracks like “Electric Valentine” and “Bring It” belie Freeland’s roots in stark electronic funk, the album overall shows him decisively soldering DJ-friendly grooves with authentic musical interplay. This hybrid is made clear in innovative rockers like “Undercontrol,” “Strange Things,” and a decidedly tweaked deconstruction of David Essex’s 1973 glam smash “Rock On,” all of which feature the haunting vocals of new discovery Kurt Baumann, frontman for the eponymous Freeland touring band. Filled with paranoiac wordplay and skewed political commentary that complements the futuristic yet dissident sonics, such songs almost tip Cope into concept-album territory—except for the fact that it never sits still long enough for any concept to take hold. In the end, Cope proves a revealing snapshot that refuses to remain in focus, a brutally vivid document of yesterday’s future today, intentionally timeless yet shocking enough to wake up today’s attention-deficit dancefloors addicted to nothing. Cope with that, motherfuckers…