For the record, I believe that Pretty Lights Music (the label) represents the future of independent electronic music, offering digital, freely available releases to the public and paying the way with goodwill and a collective reputation for putting on tight live shows. Now, that’s not to say I’m all for the new school way of doing things – I still pick up a compact disc every now and again – but it’s this innovative business model that’s allowed Pretty Lights to introduce the world to some truly talented individuals and create an iconic underground brand along the way.Commentary aside, Eliot Lipp, the newest member of the PLM crew, seems right at home alongside his label-mates with his debut record, Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake. The production here is top-notch, clean to a fault yet showing trademark Pretty Lights love for a little vinyl-era funkiness. Downtempo, neon-laced tracks like “The Snake,” “The Sunset,” and “Sneakin’” would be right at home blasting out of the Doc’s Delorean back in the day, while “The Wolf,” a jazzy switch-up, sounds like something that might play at an art gallery in SoHo on a Friday night. Lipp certainly works variety into his compositions, but it all melts together to create an album that is just so, damn, cool.For all my praise of the record, Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake does fall short a couple times along the way. One of Lipp’s weaker moments is “On N’ On,” where the artist attempts to replicate the more developed hip-hop prowess of fellow PLM-ers like Gramatik with only moderate success. Similarly, “Mountain” stands out as an underdeveloped piece, coming off as filler material when compared to the ambitious efforts put forth on the remaining songs.Still, this is mainly personal preference talking, and the isolated low points on Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake should do little to take away from what Lipp has accomplished on his impressive debut. Fans of Pretty Lights Music or dub-funk-hip-hop electronica would do well to add this album to their playlists. Eliot Lipp’s Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake is available for download from www.prettylightsmusic.com.
