![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Chronologic-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re as excited for the reincarnation of the 20\u2019s as I am, then you certainly know the grand decade is only three short months away. That\u2019s right folks, grab your pinstripe suits and flapper dresses, invest all your savings into the stock market (It\u2019s never going bust!), and head on down to the speakeasy, because the 20\u2019s are back. But what, what is the soundtrack we might use to herald the revival of this legendary period of prosperity and ruin, of intrigue and crime? The answer is Caravan Palace\u2019s new album, Chronologic<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Electro swing is a genre of music that melds the prominent styles of swing music — energetic brass, the \u2018big band\u2019 feel — into something akin to modern dance.\u00a0 It\u2019s fitting that Caravan Palace, a mainstay of the genre, is the artist to bridge the gap between this century and the last. It\u2019s as though someone said to themselves \u201chouse music is great and all, but what if it was\u2026 jazzy?\u201d And I\u2019m glad they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I first sat down to listen to Chronologic<\/em>, I set my bluetooth speaker to a conservative, roommate-respecting volume. Thirty seconds later, I found my fingers involuntarily turning the dial to the right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The album\u2019s groovy first track, \u201cMiracle\u201d,is — as the kids say — a banger. This opening track carries a sense of optimism, and an urging to disconnect from the technology dominating our world — two ideas that are perfectly on-key in 2019. It\u2019s a sort of counterpoint to the technology-centric brand of optimism that seems to radiate from Silicon Valley. Being a software engineer by trade, whose job is essentially to build more and better technology, I need a reminder as much as any of us that building the future is meaningless if we don\u2019t build it around human beings. It\u2019s a message that also comes with a hint of self-aware irony coming from Caravan Palace, a group who uses modern synthesis and editing to drastically reimagine music from the previous century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which brings me to \u201cAbout You,\u201d a song whose swaggering, rollicking baseline is nothing short of intoxicating. And really, that\u2019s what baselines are about anyways. It\u2019s something that operates on the level of instinct, not intellect: something felt more than heard, a compulsion to get on your feet and move<\/em>. This baseline is emblematic of the album as a whole: lots of fun, groovy beats, accompanied by air-headed lyrics of an equal measure. There\u2019s plenty of cleverness here, but Caravan Palace spends more time exploring the intricate interweaving of melodies than the words that adorn them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cMelancolia,\u201d they turn the infectious energy down a notch and allows space for a sort of tragic beauty to unfold, carrying an ephemeral feeling, like deja vu or a quickly-fading memory of a dream. I want to lose myself in the stanzas of elegant piano and saxophone lines, but they\u2019re over almost as quickly as they begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, Chronologic<\/em> <\/strong>is a rollercoaster, and one that I\u2019ll ride many times over. It soars in euphoric arcs at times, then deftly pivots to a different pace, majestically coasting into delicate patterns. While I would love to see their lyrics explored more deeply, it\u2019s an easy concern to forget amongst the energy, emotion, and outright musical ingenuity that Caravan Palace brings to their latest album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recommended If You Like: Swing Republic, Parov Stelar<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recommended Tracks: Miracle, About You, Melancolia, April<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do Not Play: Ghost<\/p>\n\n\n\n Written by Alex Shadley on 10\/5\/2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you\u2019re as excited for the reincarnation of the 20\u2019s as I am, then you certainly know the grand decade is only three short months away. That\u2019s right folks, grab your pinstripe suits and flapper dresses, invest all your savings into the stock market (It\u2019s never going bust!), and head on down to the speakeasy, because the 20\u2019s are back. But what, what is the soundtrack we might use to herald the revival of this legendary period of prosperity and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21912,"featured_media":71409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235],"tags":[3772,5002,5839,641],"class_list":["post-71320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","tag-electro-swing","tag-electronichip-hop","tag-electropop","tag-jazz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Chronologic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}