It’s been some time since I last heard from Pfilbryte, an
\nalternative hip-hop artist who painted a colorful, if slightly
\nskewed, view of his world on 1998’s
\nImperfection<\/i>. I remember being incredibly impressed with
\nwhat Pfilbryte had to offer, and expected to hear much more from
\nthis young artist – that was, until the label he was signed to
\nclosed its doors.<\/p>\n
Out of the blue about two months ago, I received an e-mail from
\nPfilbryte, asking if I’d be interested in reviewing his latest
\ndisc,
\nPreservatives Affirmative!<\/i>. Of course, I was not about to
\nsay no; I was interested to hear what approximately three years had
\ndone to his musical vision… and while it took me some time to
\nadjust to the change in his sound, Pfilbryte proves he’s lost none
\nof his power or wit.<\/p>\n
One word of caution, though: this is a disc meant to be played
\nat top volume through decent speakers. Running it through a cheezy
\nsqueakbox isn’t going to do the sound any justice – and, frankly,
\nyou’ll end up missing some of the sonic texture that Pfilbryte
\nlayers into his music.<\/p>\n
Blessed with a full backing band (including live drums –
\nobviously he appreciates the power these have over their
\nsynthesized brethren) and vocalists, Pfilbryte waxes eloquent about
\nhis love of cereal (“Preservatives Affirmative”) and beer (“I Like
\nBeer”), nursery rhymes (“King Cole”), religion (“Believe Me”) and
\nthe love for a child only a parent can feel (“I Know”). Through it
\nall, he makes sure to never become too serious for his own skin…
\nand he never becomes too silly to cover up the deeper messages.<\/p>\n
Delivering the payload in a style akin to Dr. John joining
\nDigital Underground, Pfilbryte uses his vocal range to create
\ndifferent moods throughout
\nPreservatives Affirmative!<\/i>, while maintaining a credibility
\nthroughout the project. This is why tracks like “Bicycle,” “7
\nWonders” and “Suburbancooltriphopmixofpop” (no, the space bar
\ndidn’t get stuck on that last one) work so well. Pfilbryte might
\ninitially come off sounding like the clown prince of alternative
\ntrip-hop, but he demonstrates early and often that he’s quite
\nserious about his craft – and his dedication is evident. (I did,
\nhowever, eventually tire of the interludes from popular comedy
\nmovies. Still, a minor glitch, and one not worthy of making a
\nfederal case out of.)<\/p>\n
Admittedly, it takes a little time for the listener to acquaint
\nthemselves with Pfilbryte’s sound – and while I admit it’s been
\nsome time since I sat down and listened to
\nImperfection<\/i> from start to finish, I considered myself to be
\nfamiliar with Pfilbryte’s style. Yet even I had to take a few stabs
\nat this particular disc, simply because I wasn’t grasping what
\nPfilbryte was trying to say. Eventually, I got it, and it proved to
\nbe time well spent – though I wonder how many people would be
\nwilling to make such an investment of time and effort.<\/p>\n
\nPreservatives Affirmative!<\/i> is serious enough to be
\nnoteworthy and humorous enough to be locked in your memory. All
\nPfilbryte needs is the opportunity to spin his tales on your
\neardrums. Listen to him; you will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5916],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39440","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pfilbryte","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39440"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}