Make/Shift is the moniker of Toronto artist/producer Paul Vroom, known mainly through his involvement with alt-pop band HIGHS, though this venture as Make/Shift is distinctly, different and not even remotely comparable to his previous work. Think Flying Lotus meets the Avalanches — imitation being the sincerest form of flattery — with all of the experimentation and half the continuity, which poses no issue.
Rather than a seamless album, 888 has moments of fits and starts, with tracks at times cleanly dissolving into the next, and at others jarring with their transitions, which is half of the charm of the nearly 25-minute mix. Electro meets jazz meets sample-based work meets trip-hop here, where low-end bass and erratic squiggles of guitar coincide with experimental drums, fade into nothing, and open into prolonged blasts of organ, looped vocals and a walking bass line — DJ Shadow's Entroducing….. immediately comes to mind.
888's success lies in its unpredictability and highly experimental take on the mixtape. It plays nicely as Make/Shift's debut and bodes well for future work.
(Independent)Rather than a seamless album, 888 has moments of fits and starts, with tracks at times cleanly dissolving into the next, and at others jarring with their transitions, which is half of the charm of the nearly 25-minute mix. Electro meets jazz meets sample-based work meets trip-hop here, where low-end bass and erratic squiggles of guitar coincide with experimental drums, fade into nothing, and open into prolonged blasts of organ, looped vocals and a walking bass line — DJ Shadow's Entroducing….. immediately comes to mind.
888's success lies in its unpredictability and highly experimental take on the mixtape. It plays nicely as Make/Shift's debut and bodes well for future work.
