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Los Angeles producer/DJ Nobody, aka Elvin Estela, presents his latest release One For All Without Hesitation on June 22nd. His follow up to 2008's Blank Blue: Western Water Music Volume II (Ubiquity) is actually Estela's first solo album since 2006's And Everything Else (Plug Research). While following in the psychedelia-meets-beat-bangers tradition of his previous releases, this is actually Estela's most cohesive album to date, as he handles all the production, instrumentation, and vocals himself. Yes, that's right, the artist that helped instrumental Hip Hop solidify itself as a genre has done a vocal record - through the much maligned Antares auto-tune nonetheless. Though this extremely popular program polarizes most, Estela uses the program simply to find his voice and utilize these songs as therapy for tumultuous times - similar to Kanye West's use of the program to deal with his turmoil, though musically the albums couldn't be more different.
Songs like “One For All Without Hesitation”, “Innocent In A Sense” and “Sleep for Daze” feature Nobody's patented blissed-out bangers as the backdrop for his quirky lyrics and catchy hooks, while more guitar based songs like 90 Degrees, Face to the Sun and Fallen set the auto-tune sound against an atmosphere not usually associated with the program, creating a sound that is at once futuristic and familiar. Nobody has released albums consistently since 2000's Soulmates (Ubiquity), which became a LA underground classic. While 2003's Pacific Drift: Western Water Music Volume I was a stylistic departure from his debut, it showed Nobody's desire to learn songwriting, as he covered classics by The Monkees, Pearls Before Swine, The Zombies and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. His 2005 full length collaboration with Mystic Chords of Memory Tree Colored See showcased that Nobody's production with singer-songwriters was a perfect match. Between albums Nobody has toured the world with the likes of The Mars Volta and Prefuse 73, while remixing countless artists including The Postal Service and Busdriver. 2006 also saw the birth of Low End Theory, Nobody's LA weekly club that has turned into legitimate musical movement, exposing the world to artists such as Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing and The Gaslamp Killer. These roads all lead to One For All Without Hesitation, the album that brings all of Nobody's work together in a singular vision that stands as his most honest and direct work to date. |
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