Alvin Fenner’s stage name “Neat Beats” feels self-deprecating almost to the point of being comical. It’s like Superman deciding to go by the name “Somewhat Strong Guy.”
Fenner’s beats are far more than neat.
In the tradition of DJ Shadow, The Avalanches, and pretty much any artist from the Ninja Tune label, Fenner’s beats are weird, engrossing, captivating, quirky, and sometimes thoroughly gorgeous. He has no trouble giving his songs awesome names – “Science Is My Girlfriend”, “Origami Spaceship”, and my favourite, “I Hope I Think Of Bike Riding When I’m Dying.”
So why such an underwhelming stage name?
Well, far be it from me to demand that an artist change their identity, but just in case Alvin Fenner is reading this, and just in case he’s considering a new nom de plume, I have some humble suggestions:
- Best Beats
- Elite Beats
- Really Really Good Beats
- Bacon Beats
- Beats and Bites
- Beats AF (okay, I don’t love this one, but his initials and the urban dictionary entry for ‘AF’ compels me to suggest it)
- Beatropolis
- Beatrix Potter
- Elf Raven Inn (because anagrams)
Okay, now while he picks from that list, you and I can focus on the song at hand.
“Graffiti On A Tuesday Night” is the opening track from his first full-length album, 2011’s Cosmic Surgery, and it’s a great summary of the album as a whole: folky guitars accompany bizarre vocal samples, all underscored by classic drum breaks that most 90s hip-hop fans will recognize.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The beginning. It opens with three elements that pull the listener right in: a garbled sample played in reverse to grab your attention, a fluttering piano sample reminiscent of the opening track on DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing…, and a sampled voice that asks, as if inviting you to listen to the album in one sitting, “are you free this evening?”
2. The middle. The bulk of the track is dominated by a perfect combination of samples; a guitar lick by The Flaming Lips and a cello sample taken from a song featured on this blog back in week 287.
3. The end. As sampled voice narrates a NASA launch, the guitar sample speeds up, echoing the rise of the spaceship, and the “launch” of the album itself. The next track on the album flows directly from this one. Like a cliffhanging first chapter of a well-crafted novel, it’s hard to stop listening Cosmic Surgery after just this song.
Recommended listening activity:
Brainstorming your new nickname.