The Wake

Cale Parks’ 2006 release, Illuminated Manuscript, is an eclectic yet surprisingly warm collection of ambient electronica. Due to release in the U.S. on Sept. 26, Parks’ music follows along the vein of Dust Brothers, Mum, and DJ Shadow, with 14 tracks mixing software and actual instruments. Recorded while Parks was playing full-time with indie band Aloha, the fundamentals for the album were recorded on bedroom floors with a four-track mixer. Brooklyn-based Parks has had a hand in a number of projects over the last few years, recording with dozens of acts including Cex, Joan Of Arc, Chin Up Chin Up, and Owen. Parks’ latest contains elements of acid jazz and trip-hop, yet to confine it to the parameters of those genres would be false.

This is not bar music, nor something you can sing along to. There is a time and place for Cale Parks. Frankly, it is music to get sneaky to. Although fun, I warn you to be careful. If listening to Parks on foot, trips from lecture hall to hall can easily feel like an intricate cinematic scene, the kind where several people are chasing you. But don’t fret. With Parks’ sporadic vocals and mix of keyboard and mallet instruments blaring in your ears, you’ll feel as though you can easily elude them. It probably doesn’t hurt that Parks’ songs are extremely conducive to rhythm symbiosis, in which the beat syncs up with the speed of everything in your scope of vision. Oh what utter sweet blissful harmony.