how to dress well- decisions from 'just once' ep

In sort of self-congratulatory commemoration of approximately a year of TTG, here is 'Decisions' from the Just Once EP by How to Dress Well. It's rather fitting because 'Decisions' was the first song posted by this blog, back on 25th June 2010. Since then there have been a further 52 posts (this will now make it 54 overall), and How to Dress Well, the artist to whom this blog has probably been most closely allied with in its own petty insular way has, I'm pleased to say, risen to a reasonable measure of critical acclaim. 'Just Once' is a four-track limited edition orchestral EP released to commemorate the passing of a good friend of Tom Krell (HTDW) and part of the proceeds will go to charity.

Anyway- may post later today with more info/another review of some kind so stay tuned!

“THE BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH IN HOME RECORDED LO-FI IN YEARS.”

Not exactly sure how great a statement that is, but How To Dress Well’s full-length debut is a cracker however you look at it. Picking work from his half dozen EPs that were released for free online, Tom Krell forms a beautifully hazy album that has been given great praise only days after its digital release. 1980s/90s R&B melodies run through HTDW with passion, hope and despondency in equal measure. In fact, Krell told Pitchfork in April that he thought Keith Sweat’s ‘Twisted’- a peak of 90s R&B, but not considered anything special at the time- was a ‘fucking masterpiece’. He mixes up the soul of that music with the nostalgia people now have for it.

I bought ‘Ecstasy With Jojo’ recently, which was HTDW’s first physical vinyl release in the UK. It was good, but in my opinion Krell didn’t enter into the depth of dream-like conditions that one can find here. Soulful Sweat-like creations are easy to come by, but they are arranged with haunting choral samples and whistles of various distortions that deliberately muddy and spread the sound. Love Remains is more or less impossible to pin down. Through its vague songs, complicated emotions emerge and grow.

How To Dress Well- Decisions feat. Yuksel Arslan
How To Dress Well- Ready For The World