People Places and Things

Interestingly Relaxing
by: tom reiter

It's a little challenging trying to describe something you've never heard before to someone else, that, with a high degree of certainty, has never heard it either. While Ezekiel Honig's latest album is just that, the ironic thing is that it is filled with things we know! Not following? Let me explain...

People Places and Things is an ambient chill electronic album. That alone means only a small percentage of music listeners have heard this type of music. What makes it even less likely to have been heard before is what Honig uses as samples and the base of most of his tracks: everyday sounds that usually go unoticed.

In "Passing Through", Honig samples what sounds like someone playing with a plastic coaster on a wooden coffee table. He uses this sample as a piece of rhythm as well as the center of attention on the track. The supporting rhythm is light and airy drum machines and zen-like synths.

And so the formula continues; "Falling Down" sounds like a person puckering and trying to get something out of their teeth; on "More Human Than Human" you get the image of someone playing with metal (possibly tin) scraps; and "Your Face Betrays Your Thoughts" could easily be someone chomping on a mough full of potato chips.

There is something calming and relaxing about People... Whether it's the simpleness of it all, or the familiarity of the samples, the end effect speaks for itself. While not a "oh my God, you have to get this!" disc, it has its place among the interesting ones. 02-Sep-2004 12:26 AM