Lloyd Khan – The Mystic Monk – Singles
Lloyd Khan – The Mystic Monk – Singles Review
This dude has got some phenomenal stuff goin’ on! I put on the first track I had in a series of singles, called “Spirit Of Khan,” and the first thing I thought was that this was about as close to something I’ve heard outta the Massive Attack catalog since first having a listen to their groundbreaking album Mezzanine years ago. That’s the level of definition we’re talking about in the music, and the degree of spirituality you’ll hear in the vibe…and it’s certainly every indication that Lloyd Khan, aka The Mystic Monk, is absolutely on the right path. His videos are nothing to sneeze at either y’all…we’re talking about intense visual elements, wise words of wisdom, and highly moving imagery all combined – it’s clear our friend Lloyd here not only has a place within music that he’s competently carving out for himself, but he’s got a sound and style that is very much guaranteed to resonate with people tuning in. The numbers already support that too…you can see that The Mystic Monk is catching on solidly with listeners and viewers out there, and I’m tellin’ ya that after a single spin through a track like “Spirit Of Khan,” you’ll know exactly why that is. Heck – you’ll be back for more instantly, just like I was! After my experience with “Spirit Of Khan,” I scoured The Mystic Monk’s catalog online to see & hear what else I’d dig, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find I liked and loved just about everything I found. From the mesmerizing and captivating qualities you’ll find in a track like “Spirit Of Khan” you’ll go on a verifiable spiritual journey as you check out The Mystic Monk, who has a wealth of material well worth your time.
On tracks like “Forever And Ever,” you’ll find you actually get some advice & guidance via Spoken Word added into the track as well. It’s not a lot, but just enough to give you an idea of what perhaps inspired The Mystic Monk as Lloyd created the song you hear, and/or provide you with a mantra of your own that you can process & think about as you listen. Which I think is a good thing to include, at least every so often – and I mean, as a fan of Spoken Word, I’d readily take more words if Khan decided to add’em in too. What “Forever And Ever” really had me appreciating more than anything else is how genuinely progressive this whole project he’s creating genuinely is. You’ve got your old world wisdom, combined with very new school sound, which makes for quite the enticing combination overall. I think people will really dig what they hear in The Mystic Monk’s music and find that it works on multiple levels. Whether it’s the opening of your third eye, or the dynamic sensations he’ll put right into your ears, or the spiritual awakening of your soul…this is a smorgasbord of intelligent creation that is remarkable to experience. It’s undoubtedly artistic, but equally clever & carefully crafted…and quite honestly it’s fairly rare to find something this well thought-out from start to finish when you consider everything you’ll discover from the audio to the video. All I know is that I want a whole lot more of this from top to bottom – The Mystic Monk is offering ya something authentically different from so much of what’s out there. While that usually means it’ll take a minute or two to catch on, people are gonna love this when they find it.
For a cut like “Journey,” our man The Mystic Monk has enlisted a whole crew of talent to bring this song to life, including: Ronald (Pockets) Ford (Drums), Ray Tilkens (Guitar), Rick Schmidt (Violin), Harry Watters (Trombone), G&C Horns (Horns), and Lloyd of course, who plays the keys, guitars & saxophone. I think the most logical question becomes, does he need all this incredible support? Does it make a song like “Journey” that much more compelling than the rest? The answer will probably surprise you a little bit, because the answer is actually no…or at the very least, not necessarily. That’s my opinion, and I’m not suggesting it’ll be universally shared. I’m also not saying that these stellar musicians and players don’t make significant contributions too – of course they do. In particular, I loved what Rick brought to “Journey” with the violin…that dude is a tremendous player, and it’s equally clear that a drummer like Pockets was born to rock the kit with the steadiest of hands. So don’t get me wrong – this isn’t me saying that Lloyd shouldn’t experiment with others, or that this team doesn’t achieve some extremely stellar results – I like “Journey” nearly as much as I’ve enjoyed “Forever And Ever” and “Spirit Of Khan” so far. The point I’m making, is that we’re essentially splitting hairs…and if that’s the case, it probably takes a whole lot more effort to arrange for a whole team than it would for Khan to do what he does as an individual – make sense? Together they take a track like “Journey” into something closer to Jazz or fusion-based music, and there ain’t a single thing wrong with that – in fact, even I’d argue that it brings out a cool new dimension in The Mystic Monk’s sound, even if I personally prefer the depths & dynamics he was exploring on his own in the first two cuts we were listening to for this review. Like all music, it’s still a personal preference game at the end of the day on the listening end and what resonates with us as individuals…The Mystic Monk is no more immune to that as any of us would be. Where there’s one person like myself willing to argue that he’s crushin’ it capably on his own just fine, there will be others that will sing the praises of his ability to collaborate on a track like “Journey” and argue that this is the cut that brings out his best…I accept that. All I’m saying is that Lloyd could probably make ten killer tracks in the time it would take to organize one with a whole bunch of other people involved. I’m not saying that it isn’t worth the results he’d achieve in the end, clearly it IS – I’m just saying it’s much more time consuming. To me, if it was dramatically different in quality, I’d say enlist a team at all times, but in my opinion, The Mystic Monk has already proven that his individual instincts produce superior results. It might be by a slight margin, but what can I say…I just call things like I hear’em. “Journey” also strikes me as a track that reminds me of a wider range of other instrumentally-based artists & bands we’ve heard, whereas the first two tracks I’ve commented on seem to possess more identity in terms of his own vibe.
Case in-point, “Ascension” is immediately more interesting to me. No, it ain’t just because it’s got a more modern beat or Electro-based sound to it…anyone that has read these pages of ours on the regular for the past decade knows I’ve got nothing but love for every kind of music under the sun. I’m not even saying that “Ascension” is fundamentally ‘better’ on a technical level either – I’m simply saying that it’s more interesting in terms of how it furthers the sound & identity of an artist like The Mystic Monk. Like, as in, I’d have a much easier time tagging him to this song specifically as opposed to the more tried, tested, and true sound of a song like “Journey,” which felt like it was less identifiable to Lloyd’s brand – are we all on the same page with what I’m saying now? Perfect! “Ascension” probably fits somewhere mid-pack for me within this set of singles I’ve been listening to. At the moment, I’m still most partial to the first impressions I got through tracks like “Spirit Of Khan” and “Forever And Ever” – I think those were the strongest I heard from The Mystic Monk, with the most engaging dynamics we’ve heard on display so far to this point. “Ascension” has its uniqueness and clever moments too, sure – but I don’t think I’d go as far as to say it’s a rival for the first two tracks I’ve reviewed here. That’s only something that’s more noticeable when you’re listening to music as a set of songs and being a critic though – I’d be the first to tell ya that if I had heard “Ascension” on its own by itself, I might even be more favorable towards it than I am now. I’ve consistently road-tested these tunes throughout the week though as I always do, and I can pretty much vouch for the fact that I have the same opinion on “Ascension” now as I did when I first started listening to it. It’s a quality cut…there’s no doubt about and it certainly seems like that’s all The Mystic Monk is capable of creating on a technical level…but yeah…I dunno what it was, but it seemed to be missing a bit of that inspired spark the first two cuts came with.
From the songs to the visuals, there’s no doubt that Khan is going about this all the right way if we’re talking about building a brand that’ll last…the quality in everything we see and hear is highly consistent. “BoBo-Ta” ends up feeling like it has an ominous quest-like sound to it as it begins, before breaking into a more digitalized dance-party vibe just past the 2:30 mark. It shifts gears again throughout the third minute into more experimental terrain, giving us the feeling like Lloyd’s roaming a bit in a looser construct that is undeniably creative, but arguably a bit less focused than what we’ve experienced so far too. It could be a case of trying to do a little too much all at once, which might seem to get the better of him this time around in my opinion…but again, you might have a completely different impression of what you’ll hear and enjoy a song that has an even wider range of ideas contained inside this one experience. I’m all for pushing the boundaries and testing the limits and whatnot – that kind of creative expansion is always an important thing in an artist’s evolution, but there’s a fine line between being able to do that & still generate enough cohesion that you don’t end up losing the average everyday listener. I suspect “BoBo-Ta” might be a bit too widespread in that regard to be a people pleaser on the whole, but I also feel like if you’re a fan of what The Mystic Monk has been creating, you’ll have no qualms about coming along for this ride too. Nothing wrong with being able to show that your ideas ain’t on short supply of course, but at the same time, to create the most effective material for the widest range of listeners out there, you wanna show some restraint and not try to give’em everything all at once, you feel me? “BoBo-Ta” has lots of short bursts of great ideas in the mix, but the full construct that houses them all might be harder to grasp for most out there. Dialing things back a little more, focusing in on a few of the most potent ideas & being objective as to what they are, could yield the best results for Khan.
Another case in-point, listen to how “Night Sky” comes out with that professional level of cohesion you wanna hear, and stays mindful of what to include into its 5:30 length without coloring too far outside of the lines. When you hear things shift like they do around the two minute mark, the progression feels logical and the sound stays firmly within the realm it started in, verifiably guaranteeing those that enjoy what they hear at the start will continue to all the way through. The melodic twists that Lloyd creates as it moves towards the third minute are all exceptional to listen to, the beat has tangible depth, and the creativity within the background is all highly complementary to the main aspects fueling the heartbeat of the song – “Night Sky” was definitely one of my favorites for all these reasons and more. I appreciate tracks like this that are as equally captivating as they are mesmerizing…as in, you can zone right out into the blissful splendor & endless oblivion of your own thoughts as you listen, or you can sit there and truly marvel at the impeccable attention you’ll hear in every detail if you’d prefer. If you’re a real Zen master, heck, you might even be able to do BOTH of those things at once! “Night Sky” is essentially as delicate as it is bold, and it creates a beautiful balance of definition through its production. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more from The Mystic Monk in the future…Lloyd Khan has got a gifted mind for the art of sound, and I think the more he taps into what makes his music special, the further he’s gonna go.
Find out more about Lloyd Khan & his music as The Mystic Monk from his official website at: http://lloydkhan.com
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