Remember “Tears In Heaven”? You know, the song where Eric Clapton made millions and (predictably) won three Grammys cashing in on the horrifying death of his son? It was wrong on A LOT of levels: the lyrics that so blatantly pandered to middle America, the overly dramatic video, the corny production. Most offensive of all, though, was how disingenuous it sounded. Who knows if Clapton willfully sold his son’s death to the masses or if he was actually so vapid that after such a life-changing experience he had nothing more enlightened to share than, “would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven?” The point is, this shitty song appealed to millions. It topped the charts. Rolling Stone were even so bold as to name it one of the best songs of all time.
Cities Aviv, on the other hand has made a perfectly fine punk/hip hop album that will be loved by almost no one. Which brings us to one of the cruelest realities of artistry. If your work is neither awful enough to appeal to the lowest-common-denominator nor awesome enough to appeal to those of good taste, you may as well have made nothing at all. Come To Life is just such an album: so perfectly acceptable yet completely unexceptional that it might very well evaporate into obscurity before you’re done reading this.
None of this is to say that there aren’t moments of true inspiration. Gavin Mays, the man behind Cities Aviv, makes some of the most forward-thinking beats I’ve heard in a while. Perhaps the best example of this is early single “URL IRL” where Mays’ musical theorem of “infinity by way of 1989” is furiously laid out in roughly 2 minutes.
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There is a lot more to like too. “Don’t Ever Look Back,” is a haunting dubstep influenced affair. “Fool” and “Head” are both uptempo poly-rhythmic bangers swirling with cold hard synth lines. In fact most of the beats are worth a spin or two even when the songs don’t totally click.
The problem is that Mays relies almost entirely on his marvelous beats to provide the hooks for his songs. It’s no mystery why. He’s a punchy, but underwhelming MC who struggles with exuding charisma. Mays seems to be acutely aware of it and has acknowledged his tendency to bury his vocals deep inside the tracks . However, his voice is so low in the mix it’s often difficult to discern spaced-out lines like, “I’m reaching through the void to get you … I’m in and out of these realms I’m living through.” There simply aren’t any moments where the vocals really connect. Unfortunately, that sort of thing matters. On the cover, Mays stares down the camera and points both fingers at his head. It’s a telling sign on such a cerebral record. I respect how much thought was put into this, but it rarely translates into something the listener can feel.
Again, none of this is a coup de grâce. Quite the opposite. The fact that this record remains enjoyable despite it’s deficiencies is a great testament to the power of the beat productions: they’re bad as fuck. This record is worth checking out for that reason alone.
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I hope Cities Aviv keeps at it. I’d be interested to hear more from him. Before he tries this again though, I hope he considers offering up some of his tracks to one or two of the fine rappers he no doubt has access to (he has the same management as Earl Sweatshirt and Freddie Gibbs for crying out loud). For now, that might be the best way to put his good talents to use; at least until he can hone his flow.
Rating: 3.7/5
Download: http://citiesaviv.bandcamp.com/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/CitiesAviv