Just a few months after a fantastic album and EP for Mush, Stephen Wilkinson releases his first album with Warp. Ambivalence Avenue, unlike previous Bibio releases, does not stick to the formula of acoustronic folk. Here Bibio mixes vocal folk with a lot of other styles of music. Those of you who have been following Mr. Wilkinson closely might have known he's had more up his sleeve, with his more experimental DJ sets and his instrumental hip-hop experiments as Duckular. It seems rather than devoting time to that alias he is attempting to weave that sound into Bibio, and thankfully, he does it with great success. When I first heard Bibio was going this direction with his debut for Warp, I worried the album might sound too disjointed, but somehow he's pulled it off, going from folk to funk to hip-hop to indie rock with ease. "Jealous Of Roses" for one example will immediately turn heads, with its 70s funk and vocals. It's completely out of left field for Bibio or even Warp, but it works. Bibio's first three albums had already confirmed to me that he was one of this decade's musical prodigies; Ambivalence Avenue just shows that he's no longer abiding by any self-imposed constraints. A fantastic signing and record for Warp.

Style: Folk, Instrumental Hip-Hop

RIYL: Yppah, Lone

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Download: Ambivalence Avenue

Tags See All Tags

2009  Ambivalence Avenue  Bibio  Folk  Instrumental Hiphop  Lone  Warp  Yppah  onecaseman 

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