- Vulture Street Tape Gang have released their debut album on Wondercore Island, titled Mature Themes For Childish People. The group consists of the combined talents of Mike Medleycott on keys, Myka Wallace on drums and the vocals of Lachlan James Mitchell. Together they’ve produce a varied but polished debut of individualistic, soulful tracks.
Mature Themes is suitably filled with smooth and sultry cuts like Celestial Body [Feat. Yumg Gumz] and Lovers And Friends, evoking the stoned soul of Marvin Gaye and Leon Ware, or Maxwell. Celestial Body is full of ornate vocal harmonies and a pitched up rap while a syncopated groove bubbles beneath. House Is Falling Down [Feat. Ha Na] is a beautiful track and an album highlight. Ha Na’s soulful vox are a good match to Laneous. Uplifting Rhodes chords punctuated by ornate and funk drumming.
Then there are songs that are hard to classify, extending in various directions, instrumentation and styles. Dinosaur Meat is a favourite, coming out of nowhere midway through the album. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard, but is proggy in the way that it goes through various sections. It’s a good representation of the freewheeling energy of the band, full of absurd lyrics. Ex's Baggage starts off feeling like VSTG interpreting contemporary trap until smooth chords and heavy autotuned vocals giving way to a great chorus full of layered vocals and synth. Testament to the overall standard of the arrangements is the First World Problems Intro, a short but sweet string arrangement. The amasing albeit short electro intro to Esquipade gives way to a romantic melody, built from wordless vocals and who knows what else. A thunderous groove settles in, the melody returning at points throughout the track.
This album is an entirely new type of work from Vulture Street Tape Gang. Produced by the group and Hiatus Kaiyote's Paul Bender, it would be interesting to know how much of their old approach applied here. Live, they are entirely improvised. Here, there are fleshed out songs with more traditional structures. That being said its as live and jazz as ever, running the gamut of hip-hip, jazzy beats, funk and rnb. It's like the Mature Themes and the Childish People balanced each other out? Without knowing exactly what magic was worked in the studio, this feels like the old met the new and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
- Hillfolk.