Sep 8, 2012

Editorial: How Blaqk Audio Can Improve

Dance music is bigger than ever right now, with DJs gaining mainstream relevance and every pop star adding dance beats to their song, Davey and Jade are both well aware of this. So naturally, Blaqk Audio should be getting more popular along with the rest of the dance genre, right? Well, not exactly – the problem with Blaqk Audio is that they are hanging out in their own niche genre. In terms of mainstream appeal, Blaqk Audio will remain the same if they continue to make music the way they do now. I’m not saying their two albums are necessarily bad, but there’s so much untapped potential with the group, and I feel like they are stuck in a rut and don’t know how to approach modern dance music.

The main issue with Blaqk Audio is that Davey is trying to keep his frontman status that he holds with AFI; when really in electronic music, you should always let the producer be the lead guy. Jade needs to be the face of Blaqk Audio, not Davey. It’s so evident to me with tracks like “Everybody’s Friends” and “With Your Arms Around You” that Jade is really the star of the group, and in fact Davey’s vocals sometimes don’t even match the instrumental well at all. Davey almost even tries to outdo Jade in some songs, to the point your mind is just focused on his voice, and Jade’s work just gets drowned out. If people really don’t understand Jade’s potential yet, I invite them to please go listen to the CexCells instrumentals and his remixes on Soundcloud.

I don’t want to completely discredit their work, because if I was to say I don’t like how they do things now, I wouldn’t be a fan of them. They do know how to make it work, with songs like “Let’s Be Honest”, but those tracks are few and far in between. The solution is to make Davey’s voice just another one of Jade’s tools. There’s no need for Davey to try and write an AFI track with every song, but you can still be verbose while keeping it simpler. Davey and Jade need to sit in the same room together, and fully cooperate in making a track. I don’t want BA to sound like two separate parts (the vocal and instrumental) anymore. The music needs some cohesion.

The Ligature is a really interesting song to me, because it’s the only song where Jade has full control. I believe it’s just a remix of an unreleased song, but the point is that Jade just went crazy on Davey’s vocal track. The result is something really cool, and it’s the only BA song you can hear this in.

I got goosebumps when there was a stutter effect added to Davey’s voice in a verse of Everybody’s Friends, because vocal effects are something so underutilized with their music. I want a track with tons of vocal layers, and at times I don’t want to understand what Davey is saying at all. Jade should turn Davey’s voice into an instrument, get us hooked on the tune and not the words.

In closing, I really just want to see Blaqk Audio succeed. It’s upsetting to me that they aren’t as big as they deserve, and with the current explosion of Electronic music, there really is no reason they shouldn’t be. Part of the reason the cross over with AFI and Blaqk Audio fans is so huge is because honestly, the music is actually very similar. They use the same song structure, Jade uses the same synths in some AFI songs, and Davey is just as complex and poetic with Blaqk Audio lyrics as he is with AFI. I just want BA to evolve in the same way AFI does with every album.

By drew editorials 10 Comments

Greg

My guess is they probably don’t care about becoming the next big thing, and they just enjoy making music the way they do. I say forget what everyone else is doing and let them do their own thing and make music the way they want to.
Stephen

I also think that they should write together instead of how they do it right now. I really love their current stuff but it just kills me that they have the potential to do be the greatest but like you said i also feel like they are stuck in a rut.
http://brightblackheaven.com/ Drew

I agree as well, I don’t want them to be like everyone else, I just think their music can benefit from making BA less like AFI and more like a unique electronic act.
Stasia

Without Davey’s lyrics the songs would just be another dance song. With him singing it brings a energy to the song that gets everyone pumped, with his vocals and jade’s instrumental it makes something great and different from every other song, without the lyrics its Audio. Together its Blaqk Audio.
Dicks Oak

I disagree. Jade makes the music. Davey writes the lyrics and decides the melody. I don’t understand why everyone thinks being in the same room together would change anything. Davey’s not going to say “Make a song that sounds like this…” and Jade’s not going to have much of an input on the lyrics. So what’s the point? I agree that sometimes Davey’s vocals don’t exactly stick with Jade’s music, but that would get boring eventually. It’d sound too perfect. I’m fine with BA as it is. I just think BBH is 2 years too late.
Vincent

They’re great the way they are & they speak to my soul, so I’m biased. But everyone is entitled to their opinion just like the review of BBH here. Either way it’s a great dance album.
Tom

I agree with this editorial quite a bit. When Jade first posted The Ligature I was excited. All of the vocal and drum effects were interesting to listen to but still maintained a Davey and Jade feel. When they said they were going to explore dnb, and listed some unique electronic artists like Autechre as their inspiration, I was hoping this album to turn out as some dancey-glitchy hybrid. Now that all of the BBH songs are available to hear, I agree with the instrumental-vocal disconnect that is much more present on this album. The songs all sound too similar to each other and to be is a lot like AFI’s Crash Love: the verses and choruses of most songs are just too unrelated and I end up liking only one or the other, causing mixed feelings on each track.
I do appreciate that this is music is what they love making and playing live though and wish them all the best.
http://www.facebook.com/matt.mcewan3 Matt McEwan

I’ve felt that Jade was a big part of why the band is so good ever since 06 or 07. His skill and innovative ideas are what makes blaqk audio and afi stand out in my opinion. I love the other guys, but his ability to create strong music is very under-appreciated. Blaqk Audio songs would benefit from more musical breaks with no vocals. Sometimes, you just want to immerse yourself in the electronic vibes, but then you’re interrupted by Davey’s lyrics. Which, sure, I love singing along with them and they’re very fun and catchy, but I have my reservations. Most electronic songs I like have musical solos, and they’re amazing. I think it would do nothing buy good for blaqk audio, if they would extend the time of a few of their songs by a minute or two and added in some points where Jade’s hard work and music shine. As they stick to the basic AFI format, the songs just feel too short and VERY compressed. Honestly the breakdown part in a lot of blaqk audio songs throw me off, but that’s another story.
http://www.facebook.com/matt.mcewan3 Matt McEwan

Actually, Davey does help to make up some of the rythems and melodies, so he does have some weight in musical scheme while Jade has influenced Davey and, I imagine, helped strengthen the lyrics in the past. They’re definitely not one trick ponies, they’re a colaboration.
http://brightblackheaven.com/ Drew

We share the same thoughts.