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We thought we'd throw in another triple review. ;)
Pogo - Wings for Dreamers
March 20, 2018 (YouTube streaming) - Unreleased
The Honeyboy Jones
Pogo a.k.a. Nick Bertke has been producing music for over a decade from his hometown of Perth, Australia, as well as many other parts of the world. Bertke cut his teeth on some of the first digital audio workstations, working extensively with the games Music 2000 and Fluid for Playstation, Cakewalk SONAR, FL Studios, and more recently Ableton Live. Though most recognized for his work with film sample audio/visual mixes on YouTube, Bertke has always had a steady stream of quality dance tracks that make use of more ambiguous sample and original material. ‘Wings for Dreamers’ comes sandwiched in the middle of a handful of such tracks.
I have been following Bertke’s work more or less since the beginning and have both a strong understanding of his work as well as a strong bias. I’ll try not to make too much of an ass of myself. Following up his February LP release Ascend, the producer has trickled out a few video-less stand alone tracks on his secondary YouTube account. ‘Wings for Dreamers’ follows cannon Pogo structure: distinguishable vocal samples to set the mood, a soft layering of chords and melodic stabs created with both synths and harshly chopped vocal bits, a fat sine wave bass, natural sounding percussive elements, distinctly sectioned song structure, and a relatively short track length.
The best Pogo productions have an organic quality about them, as if the audio elements could exist in the natural world in their altered state. This could be due to the samples mostly coming from “real life,” whether from TV, film, or field recordings, but the way that they have been collaged together should give the overall sound more of a robotic Daft Punk feeling than something that could occur naturally. ‘Wings for Dreamers’ utilizes many samples from Bertke’s staggeringly large collection, but they are used discreetly. Just as the listener gets a sense of a noise or shout or syllable, the piece of audio evaporates and is replaced just as quickly. The result leads to a false sense of nostalgia that drives one to hit replay. 🍍
Pogo - Cloudley
March 20, 2018 (YouTube streaming) - Unreleased
Lady June Lockheart
Pogo’s single ‘Cloudley’ is chilly, airy and aptly named, with a sentimental chord progression like the synthesized ringtone of a Coldplay song. It is a thing of beauty with a touch of dreamy melancholy, and it conjures vivid cinematic imagery in me as I listen. This song could easily be the swell of a cinematic montage, a moment when the characters are experiencing physical and emotional distance but wishing their condition were otherwise.
Overall this is a soft and pleasant undulating lullaby. But, when the synthesized trumpet and vocal sample comes in about halfway through, we get a jarring reminder of Pogo’s usual playfulness. I like the first half of the song better than the second half, though. Pogo has a tendency to write his signature on things with a heavy hand, and this song is no exception. The trumpets and vocals weigh down the song and feel like mandatory moves he feels obligated to make as creator.
Pogo polarizes audiences—those that love him are completely devoted, Kool Aid-chugging fans. And those that don’t like his music dismiss him quickly as unable to escape his subject matter. His work has always been rooted in the medium of cinema. Even when he moves away from overt, popularly-recognizable film samples, the tether remains in the essence of his songwriting. Cinema and video-based media inspire him in and out of the studio, and this shows in everything he crafts.
I think Pogo has built a creative career on something that is extraordinary and highly unique. He has painstakingly carved out a space for his work that did not exist before he started releasing music. The way he works with recorded vocal samples, recognizable or not, has taught us a lot about the potential of human language as an instrument. He is a highly skilled musician and composer, but I don’t think he will ever experience the pleasure of broad audience appeal. And that’s ok. I think he has more freedom this way, if he isn’t too afraid to take the risks required for creative growth.
Most of his work remains bogged down by the very subjects that inspire him to create. He seems cursed by the fanatical appeal of his work, and his success within his home-built niche of the electronic music world has hindered opportunities for growth. But ‘Cloudley’ does somehow provide a glimpse of something else in Pogo’s practice, and I am excited that it took me a few minutes upon first listen to recognize that it was a Pogo song. It shows potential for the growth he has been craving as an artist for years now. ☔
Pogo - Give to You
March 12, 2018 (YouTube streaming) - Unreleased
Mister Lance Manion
If you’re like me and millions of other weary viewers of infomercials, then you’re wary as hell of anyone wanting to give to you. In Pogo’s case, it is relatively harmless sentiment being offered up.
Employing some fuzzy warbling R&B vocal samples, Pogo says “Hello, intimacy, it’s me and my audience, do you have some time to spend with us?” It is clear from his music that Pogo subscribes to a Badiou-esque philosophy of love in which intimacy as any other relational form becomes its own entity full of self-emergent properties. I only include this to explain the subtext i mentioned two sentences ago in which Pogo beckons intimacy.
It’s a short track. Sweet and to the sappy point. Atmospheric but not without drive.
’Give to You’ is a nice song. ⛰️