Music Review // Jo Bled "1000 Days"

https://jobled.bandcamp.com/album/1000-days

I feel like a lot of the quality of a New Year can come with the music which it brings.  A new album by Jo Bled on January 1st, to kick off the New Year, is obviously a sign of good things to come, not just in music but in life as a whole.    "1000 Days" just feels like the type of album which is going to set you on your path, be your spiritual guide throughout the year.

Jo Bled is the very definition of a percussionist.  When you think of someone playing ~drums~ you can think of them with a drum kit consisting of bass, snare, toms and cymbals.  But Jo Bled always has some other ways of making sounds with instruments you might forget or not know are part of the percussion family.  There is always this steady rhythm within these songs as well, as if Jo Bled is the compass and the music is set to help you find your way.

The first song has this sound of clicking and pouring while the second is more acoustic with this tribal type of vibe.  Glass / metal type of wind chimes come through next and then that scraping comes with steady beeping behind it on "Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society".   "Shuffle" has this sound like playing table tennis and a plane flying by while you can hear a whisper which sounds like "Daddy, are we done?", which makes it feel like my beliefs are confirmed.  

Tinker toy clockworks with electric water droplets are on "Powerful Symbols of Belonging".  A feeling of tightly wound strings / a music box with ominous drone behind it now.  The last song can bring out thoughts of the rattling of a spray paint can.  I feel like if I saw this being made it'd be the rubbing of those two drum sticks together but it feels much more mechanical and complex than all of that.   

This seems to be the theme of the music- simple on the surface but much more complex behind the scenes- and in that way that all great musicians are like magicians because you enjoy their sounds but don't quite fully know how they are being made, Jo Bled is among the best, never revealing any of the secrets but still leaving the listener fully satisfied.