BLOOODHOUND – CounterTransfer+

BLOOODHOUND – CounterTransfer+ – Album Review

Ohhhhh I tell ya folks…if only I loved half the music that came my way as much as I love the music of BLOOODHOUND, I’d be way more confident about doing what I do for another twelve whole years.  Alas, there really is only ONE BLOOODHOUND out there, which puts me in some kind of bizarre situation where I’m like this musical heroin addict that would REALLY, REALLY like the big balloon, but is forced to take the dose I can get.  Don’t get me wrong, ANY album by BLOOODHOUND IS that big balloon we all dream about…but yeah…relatively to the scene, and how much there is like BLOOODHOUND within it, records like CounterTransfer+ are way too damn far and few between in this world we’re livin’ in, 100%.

Anyhow.  Leave it to me to find a way to complain about wanting MORE of exactly what I’ve got in my speakers at this very moment in time, right?  This music-critic thing…I’m tellin’ ya…it’s a true skill y’all.

As “fakeSTAR*” began, I got that hit I was looking for instantaneously.  My mirror is way too covered in dust to see my actual reflection, but I fully suspect that from the moment “fakeSTAR*” began, my eyes probably dilated, and I proceeded to get high in the best way I know how – new BLOOODHOUND music!  If you haven’t heard it for yourself by now, you’ve been missing out – that’s facts.  While I WISH that there was so much more of this like…gripping kaleidoscopic sound out there in the scene, by the same token, I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have crossed paths with this wonderfully strange musical entity in this one lifetime I’m leading, and I can never, ever, get enough of what I hear.  No surprise to me at this point, pushing play on CounterTransfer+ simply further confirmed what I’ve known for so very long already…BLOOODHOUND is built DIFFERENT.  For real y’all…push play with me and listen to “fakeSTAR*” and you’ll know what I mean.  BLOOODHOUND knows the exact sound she’s going for, but when you hear how gloriously scattered and unique it truly is, you’ll be as amazed as I am at how staggeringly precise she can be in all that she creates.  Not only is something like “fakeSTAR*” pretty much flawless and a brilliant dose of vivid audible art like a Pollock painting come screaming to life, but when you consider how much goes into a song like this, how much effort it would take, how closely edited it all is, and the work that would have to be done to make it move like it does…c’mon y’all…BLOOODHOUND is in a class of her own, truly.  Listening to her music is like hearing someone changing the late night television channels on-beat…and while I can certainly understand that might not be everyone’s bag, it’s definitely mine.  Every time I push play on BLOOODHOUND’s music I am absolutely fucking spellbound.

So much so, that when things seem to line up on what’s almost an arguably more linear direction, where things damn near make sense to your ears like what you’ll find on “CreditCard,” you have to wonder if that’s really the case, or if BLOOODHOUND has once again warped your spirit and soul so successfully that you can’t tell which end is up anymore.  I have long maintained that this artist is lightyears ahead of the rest of what’s out there, and tracks like “CreditCard” end up serving as a sturdy bridge to help some of us catch up, you know what I mean?  It’s like…obviously it’d be extraordinarily tough to simply pick out one of these songs on CounterTransfer+ and label it as ‘the single’ – but if you were to choose one, chances are, “CreditCard” would be the right choice to make.  There’s enough catchiness and cleverness combined in this track that it could easily snag some random ears out there and catch them off guard.  Like…I’m talkin’ about those folks out there that would NEVER think they’d listen to something like what BLOOODHOUND creates…those people might just randomly happen upon a track like “CreditCard” and be extremely surprised by how much they fucking LOVE IT.  Because let’s be real here, while it’s cut up and chopped more than a friend of Michael Myers, “CreditCard” also has powerfully addictive hooks and real appeal to it that extends far beyond weirdos like ME.  Don’t get it twisted – I’m still just as much of a fan of what’s happening throughout the background as I am with what’s happening on the surface and easiest for us normal humans to absorb…all I’m saying is that “CreditCard” manages the impossible, and somehow straddles both realms to find the space in between what gets us excited about what’s unique & still pleasing those that would need a whole lot more to hang onto in the music they listen to.  Love it!  Plus…like…c’mon y’all…did you really expect the CHOIR to show up in a BLOOODHOUND tune?  The fuck you did – you did not!  She’s as unpredictable as a music-maker has ever been & tracks like “CreditCard” continue to prove she’s insightfully innovative, daring AF as an artist, and drawing from a creepy well of creativity that likely contains that chick from The Ring inside it…it is totally unlike anything you’ve heard.

You’d be well served to dive right in and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.  I’m not gonna be the guy to tell you that everyone out there is gonna get songs like “possession” or that everyone out there is going to dig BLOOODHOUND as much as I personally do.  Honestly, this is one of those acts where I end up feeling like the less of you out there get it, the better…then I’ve got this music all to myself and I don’t have to share it, you dig?  Hell, I’m not even gonna say that some of it doesn’t fly over my own damn head – of course it does!  I ain’t some kind of genius over here y’all…I just know what good music is, that’s all.  “possession” is a stellar example of a track that’s right on the fringe for me.  Let me be clear – I STILL fucking love it, but perhaps a fraction less when compared to some of the other tracks on this record or within the BLOOODHOUND catalog.  Even when that’s the case, it’s still gonna be better than most things I could experience on any given day, and I’d be completely stoked if “possession” was the soundtrack to every single day I’m alive for.  It’s a LOT…I’ll concede that much to ya – is that fair enough for ya?  It’s also like, just over the two-minute mark too, so like…you don’t even have the time to really mount some kind of substantial complaint about it even if you had one.  Again, personally, I can easily get behind something like this because of how wildly different it is…the hills are alive with the sound of BLOOODHOUND y’all.  “possession” is seriously as entertaining & interesting as it is twisted & complex.  It’s like someone phoned you from the heart of Mardi Gras while you were out and left you a message.

“POSSESSOR” is special, straight up.  I love the way the piano is laced into this song from the start, but love it even more when it comes back in for the finale.  There are SO MANY ideas on a BLOOODHOUND record that it makes my head spin laps like I’m doing impressions of Linda Blair.  If I’m not mistaken, she’s actually incorporated a speech from Selena Gomez in this song – have I got that right?  It’s an interesting sample to say the least, and one can only hazard a guess when it comes to what this artist is looking to say through its inclusion.  It makes sense to a degree when you consider Gomez’s troubled past and battle with bipolar depression and all…I could see BLOOODHOUND connecting to something like that and the different mood swings that it can create.  Like the very sound of “POSSESSOR,” being bipolar is so very often completely misunderstood…sure there are lows beyond compare, but there are also triumphant highs, and a whole lot of beauty that is discovered in dark places that otherwise might go altogether unnoticed.  In some ways, you can theorize that someone like Gomez would be a warrior in BLOOODHOUND’s world…someone that has managed to beat the odds & bring the dark into the light, rather than simply shy away from it.  We all have darkness inside us…it doesn’t have to be scary, and in fact, it can be beautiful too – I think that’s why we hear such exquisite piano being played throughout this particular song.  I’ve only ever just got theories…but I love how BLOOODHOUND’s music constantly makes me think about what’s going on and what’s being communicated.  So much of her music echoes what our dreams are like…how we manage to catch pieces and glimpses of people, places, and things, only to find that they elude our grasp before they become completely clear, to be lost and gone forever.

Rumor has it…Gomez’s voice isn’t the only one you’ll hear on this album.  I have it on good authority – straight from the very source you might even say – that the ACTUAL voice of BLOOODHOUND is found on this record as well.  Is knowing that gonna help you find it?  Are you gonna just know it when you hear it?  Hell no!  And therein lies the real beauty of creating such a mysterious persona y’all – at this point in her career, BLOOODHOUND can freakin’ hide in plain sight and you’d never even know it.  Is there a chance you hear her pop up on “eXXXorcist” talking about the white rabbit and such?  Maybe!  There’s probably a damn good chance you’ve already heard her long before this point on the record as well!  We’ll never really know.  She’s everywhere and nowhere and all at once…and I absolutely love that.  BLOOODHOUND has become this stunning enigma…a puzzle that can never be solved…a sound that we can relate to in some ways, yet never in others, and even despite all this, we feel this insatiable craving to understand her by listening to every freakin’ morsel of her music.  For those of you that are familiar with these pages of ours, you know this is what I DO for a living – my whole career is built on listening to music intently, trying to tap into what makes artists tick…so believe me when I tell ya, it would take me another ten lifetimes to even scratch the surface of who BLOOODHOUND is.  All I know and can say for certain, is that she’s outright fascinating & that her music is like a LeMarchand’s Box.  As I listened to “eXXXorcist” and its blending of religion and Alice In Wonderland together, I couldn’t help but find myself every bit as intrigued and mesmerized by her music as I’ve ever been.  From the low-key vibes and beat in the background, to the stuttered shots of samples edited into this song along the way, she’s capable of creating such an effective collage of sound that you’ll want to stay fully immersed in it.  Honestly, it’s a testament to how we don’t actually need to understand every damn thing about every damn thing…leave yourself some unsolved mysteries in this world y’all, and allow yourself to be amazed by the wonder that creates.  “eXXXorcist” is like Boards Of Canada merged with your television roulette.

From the jarring textures to the smoothest tones, from the angelic to the horrific, from the light to the dark, this artist and the intensity she applies to every direction, has got you fully covered.  LISTEN to something like “LastWish” for proof that what I’m tellin’ ya is real, because somehow, in the short space of only 1:47, BLOOODHOUND is able to incorporate all of those qualities and more.  There’s a very damn good chance that “LastWish” would be among my favorites of the bunch on this particular album…I might even go as far as to say that it’s my number one choice, or at the very least, that it has been several times as I spun my way through this record over the past week or so.  I love the stunningly beautiful melody that drifts through the background of this song, and all the undeniable CHAOS that is happening at the exact same time.  What’s truly amazing is that neither of these layers feels truly dominant over the other – so in a way, the music of BLOOODHOUND is very much like a Rorschach test of its own…it becomes about what YOU hear on a personal level.  Do you hear the beauty of the singing in “LastWish” – or do you hear the murderous sound of a roaring chainsaw?  Do you notice the delicate and charming beat the most – or is it the noise of the crowd that you hear?   Are you able to somehow balance things out like BLOOODHOUND is able to do, and hear everything on an equal plane?  I could listen to a track like “LastWish” for forever and never complain – and not only would I never bitch about it, I’d always be able to find something new about it that I hadn’t heard or noticed before.  Every song is so loaded with sound at the tiniest fragments of something to hear, that you truly have to give it up to BLOOODHOUND for her award-worthy attention to detail.  This track is powerfully enticing though…I’m convinced this is another one of those tracks that I’d consider using as a gateway in if I was trying to get someone I know to listen to BLOOODHOUND’s music.  I’d be like, fuckin’ sit your ass and listen to THIS…and then watch as they got into it piece by piece, layer by layer, navigating their own unique path through the light and the darkness as they experienced it all.

Because make no mistake dear readers, dear friends…that’s exactly what this IS – an EXPERIENCE.  It’s fucking HOPE for the future…that real ART will continue to live on, through music.  I listen to an artist like BLOOODHOUND and find it nothing less than completely exciting and entirely thrilling from start to finish.  This is what testing the limits sounds like.  This is what doing what you want to do sounds like.  This is what it sounds like to blaze your own goddamn trail without living in fear of whatever the fucking consequences could ever be, or even considering that there could be some.  This is audible freedom, gained by embracing the madness & having the courage to look at what most would never dare to see.  And I am HERE. FOR. IT.  ALL OF IT.  I listen to “forever+” and get actual CHILLS down my spine.  From the poetic descriptions of love, to the potency of the production and how it sounds like we’ve just played an old tape we found in the attic with someone’s voice on it at random…and good lord y’all…it’s just perfect.  I wish I could describe it to ya, I really do.  All I can do is basically BEG you to listen to this artist and make an attempt at experiencing sound in a different way than you probably ever have before.  It ain’t gonna be easy for many of you…but I can promise that hearing an album like this will ENRICH your freakin’ LIFE.  This is art, unfiltered, raw, and real.  This is an artist, left to her own devices, without a care in the world for whatever else is happening in the music-scene.  “forever+” is pure authenticity as only BLOOODHOUND could create, and it’s an awe-inspiring finale to what’s been yet another album of unbridled creativity & curiosity combined.  I am a BETTER PERSON for having experienced this record – art like this is meant to be ravenously consumed, relentlessly debated, and listened to heavily on repeat.

Find out more about BLOOODHOUND…or…you know…as much as a person possibly could from what you’ll see and hear…from her official page at Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/blooodhound

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