Circle of Friendz: Ritual Union

     Hello? Is anybody there? I'm back. I have returned from the depths of college to take the Circle of Friendz for another spin. No, I haven't forgotten about this. It's still my goal to listen to EVERY SINGLE ALBUM on my list, and I do not care how long that will. Maybe 10 months, maybe 10 years. I will FINISH THIS by any means necessary. It does help that it gives me something to do until Gorillaz gets off their little hiatus. But before I get to the album I'm speaking about today, I do wanna address the new The Good, the Bad, and the Queen single, Merrie Land. Anyone who read my post about the first album knows that the self-titled record is bar none my favorite album of all time, so my expectations were pretty high, to say the least. Thankfully, the single meets all my expectations! It's nicely produced, even if I'm not sure if I'm in love with the production as much as I was with the first album. I really love Damon's vocals and packed lyricism on it as well. It's a very dense, very political track. I think the line "We are a shaking wreck where nothing grows" could be a very apt descriptor for Damon's thoughts about Brexit and where he thinks the country is headed. I'm sure I'll be able to provide a better description on my inevitable review of the album when it comes out later in November. Look forward to that. Onto the show!

Who is this from? Little Dragon
What did they do for Gorillaz? The lead singer Yukimi Nagano lends her voice to both To Binge and Empire Ants on Plastic Beach, also working as an opening act on certain dates on the Escape to Plastic Beach and The Now Now tours.
When was this released? July 21, 2011 in the Netherlands before expanding to other parts of the world throughout the end of that July.
Where was this recorded?  Gothenburg, Sweden
Why should you give this a listen?
     Right off the bat, this album feels like it would be the background music for some sci-fi adventure game with graphics that look hot off the PC-98. I especially notice this on tracks like Precious or Little Man  where these 8-bit sounding synths feel like I could hear this blaring on a radio as a character drives across town on a starry night in some video game. Notice that I said background. Quite a bit of this album I don't think really pops out in my mind. Don't get me wrong, none of the 11 tracks ever dip into truly awful territory, like I wanna hit the skip button as soon as they come on, but a fair bit of this album can elicit little more then a shrug out of me. Tracks like Brush the Heat or Little Man I can keep on, but I can feel myself kinda tuning out during them. The vocals are fine, if nothing impressive on these tracks, but instrumentally they really don't do enough to keep me too invested in them.

     There are some fine highlights on here even despite this however. It's tracks like the more upbeat Please Turn that really get me through the weaker material on here. The title track works as a catchy opener with some cool stuff whirling about in the instrumental, even if it's not a smash hit of an intro. The first single of this LP Nightlight is by far the best track on here. I could recommend this album for this song alone. It's got an infectious beat and Yukimi does a nice job on vocals. Shuffle a Dream has a pretty good hook and I gotta give it points for that Castle in the Sky shoutout. The track Precious has a great groove to it paired with some of the best vocals on the album. Yukimi sounds absolutely precious on this track. I also like how much of the song lets the instrumental speak for itself for an extended outro. This definitely perked my spirits being placed directly after the so-so Crystalfilm.

     I can truly see an awesome album in Ritual Union, one full of fascinating little electronic experiments and lots of soul put into it. I can still see elements of that in the final product. But over half the album is just so-so or frankly forgettable material paired alongside some cool or even great stuff. I'm giving Little Dragon's Ritual Union a 6.5/10.

     Hope you found some enjoyment out of my return to grace, as it were. Hopefully I won't get caught up in too much schoolwork and late night Love Live splurges to get back to this series somewhat more frequently. Of course, me saying that could doom this project into eternal obscurity, a development hell it never claws back from. Of course, that's just the pessimist side of me. See you in the next one.