Category: ALBUMS

Written by Louis Pelingen In terms of creating an instrumental album centered towards a mood or a concept, the artist has to start thinking outside the box when creating tunes and textures especially if the said concept is a complex one, or at the very least, requires more thought into making it translate to the music effectively. Introducing: Travelator. Travelator is a solo project by Conrad Javier that essentially creates a musical backdrop to the chaotic swirls that have been a push-pull situation in the cities in the Philippines. His previous releases such as ‘Reset’ and ‘Travelator 2’ showcased Conrad’s skillset as a bassist, guitarist, and beatmaker with loopy grooves and cool textures making for a relaxed, but oddly tense listen. This was also the year where he released his debut album, ‘The Sins Of Your Children’. At first, given the album art, the album’s title, and the names in the tracklist, it may seem that Travelator is going somewhere with his concept. Possibly adding more interesting samples and textures to the mix to make the hypnotic, scorching mood of his past EPs feel more intensified and allow the melodies to slip into your mind with a bit of variety and clarity. After a dozen listens on this album, I was in an odd state with this project. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of samples that would really help emphasize the socio-political concept of this album even clearer, but on the other hand, I get why Travelator didn’t include more of them as the downtempo leaning tracks create more of a sifting, meditative backdrop against situations and figures that are creating much of the chaos in the Philippines. This record also reminds me slightly of Boards of Canada, and especially a vaporwave-tinged downtempo album from last year, NYSE’s Millennialism. On the surface, this album plays in a cohesive structure as the prominent presence of pulsating percussion, squelching and simmering synthesizers, somber and distorted guitars, and quaking bass all throughout the album, playing in tempos and textures that gallop on one side and submerge on the other. When the tracks hit hard, they really do stand out. I love the stomping and whirling atmosphere that comes on ‘Loveable Lies’, same goes for tracks like ‘A Bit of Flavor’ with the chiming synths and airy synth bass that is accompanied with distorted guitar at the end, and ‘The Sins of Your Children’ brings a steady beat and multiple synthesizers that provides layered melodies on top of that steady drum beat. I did like some of the meditative tracks on the record, like ‘Warlords’ that starts the record off with a calming charm coming off from the looping drums, guitar, and even trumpets, and the closer ‘The Gods That Hate You’ which brings in soothing guitar and varied synth textures on top of the steady percussion. However, when you take a closer look, the album starts to show its flaws as the inconsistent mixing, odd synth tones, and lack of rhythmic and melodic variance pokes through. I wasn’t crazy about the mixing on ‘Wasabi’ which kills off those punchy drum loops, kills an otherwise wonderful trudging atmosphere on ‘Walking on Mud’, and kills off what should be an explosive breakdown on ‘Victorious’. Some of the synth tones used on some of these songs like ‘State Beyond Sleep’, ‘Grace, Kindness, and Death’, and ‘An Abundance of Caution’ could’ve been modified at spots as they don’t exactly blend well and they do stick out like a sore thumb. And most importantly, while I do appreciate the consistent mid to low tempos peppered on this record to ensure the meditative feel of these songs, there could’ve been instances where the tempos ramp up for a few seconds to provide these songs some urgency, provide more melodic presence from the guitar when it was used not as frequent and sometimes mixed too low, and slip in more sampling cuts that would allow for variance from song to song. At the end of the day, I do understand and respect what Travelator is approaching in this record. It’s a contemplative respite from the whirling and somber aspects of the city life in the Philippines, especially when the album cover and track titles lean towards the socio-political aspects this time around. The vibe coming from these songs may be there, but it’s held back by mixing, synth tones, and lack of rhythmic variance that don’t make the tracks standout even more. It may hit the concept and feel that Travelator aims for, but it doesn’t snap consistently. Support the art & the artist: