Send "MillionYoung " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 On last year's Be So True EP, Florida's Mike Diaz, aka MillionYoung, showed some promise with intricate, bloopy arrangements swaddling his vocals. His debut LP, Replicants, features a widened stylistic breadth and higher recording fidelity. These improvements should be bellwethers of hope for a genre (chillwave) that may seem to have run its course. But there's a serious problem: he can't really sing. Not that he doesn't try-- throughout most of Replicants, he aims for the rafters with high-pitched vocal yearning, with a very low success rate. Sometimes he can handle it-- the simple melody of "Calrissian" suits him well enough-- but it's not long before his voice gets tangled, losing grip on the song and wavering unevenly.Replicants' problems extend beyond vocal limitations; the real issue is that, at 13 tracks and 40 minutes, this record plays like a shiftlessly uninteresting, self-parodic slab of warm-in-2010 pastiche. There are attempts at Panda Bear's Person Pitch jangle, the cut-and-paste electronica of (old) Toro Y Moi, Graceland's more drum-driven moments, Washed Out's sleepless nostalgia, and even the strung-out indie-pop of Beach House. No one's ever been arrested for sonic impersonation, but the album's unwillingness to sit still makes for an aggravating front-to-back listen. Its multiple false endings-- three by my count, and that's excluding the shambolic "bonus track" tacked on to the end of "Synanthropic"-- cruelly prevent the whole mess from just stopping already....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| “You’re already transparent, and I’m already done” sings Mike Diaz on forthcoming single ‘Perfect Eyes’, marking one of the more lucid moments in this, the debut album from Millionyoung. Real understanding can be brought to bear on moments like these. It’s a pure insight into the whole show; scene by scene unravels before us. In this moment Millionyoung reveals the lightness of his touch, the easy grace of his production and the openness of his lyrics. ‘Perfect Eyes’ breathes with this kind of humility allowing Diaz’s wondering vocal to effortlessly delve into abstractions and ideas like dreams sunk into pennies beneath the clear water of a fountain. And so what you get here is this fragile foundation upon which great ideas are brought to life. Millionyoung uses this great grace, or if you like, dexterity, to manoeuvre his way through the tracks, drawing inspiration from multiple sources. Thus, while ‘Obelisk’ and ‘Cosmonaut’ play heavily on a filtered psychedelic pop, ‘Easy Now’ is almost a funk revival track; displaying the smooth basslines akin to his contemporary Toro Y Moi’s latest, ‘Still Sound’. In fact watching Toro Y Moi play live during the summer months I witnessed his remarkable move towards a kind of funk-wave, and although it was still half-formed, it was played with real clarity. Although that’s a slight digression, the point is that early producers of the now iconic chillwave sound have moved on, playing with beats and basslines and wondering how to bring that into their music. In resemblance to Toro Y Moi’s progression from laid back mind-benders to up-tempo toe-tappers Millionyoung’s Replicants is a superb echo of this move. From the lurching up-tempo beats, swamped basslines and playful percussion Replicants takes tangible (if still baby) steps away from the most identifiable elements of his genre. Track’s take on different, mutated forms such as ‘On On’ which revolves around a simple house sample, likewise, ‘Sentimental’ adopts a calypso vibe that softens the end of the album towards its conclusion....full text |
| Potholesinmyblog |
| As a genre of pure nostalgic ejaculation, it is with great confidence in which one may assert that chillwave has exploded as of late. An exaggerated tip of the cap is directed towards Ernest Greene, a young man from Georgia who performs music under the name Washed Out. Greene has been the scene’s commanding force since 2009, with breathtaking High Times and Life of Leisure extended plays. Not too far behind him stands many promising artists, riding the — ugh — “wave” of seductive synths and airy vocals. One of those musicians is South Florida’s own Mike Diaz, better known as MillionYoung. With a couple of tasteful EPs and singles under Mike’s belt, it was only a matter of time before a splash was made in the big pond he’s placed himself in. That’s where Replicants shows up; right on time, though unfortunately a tad too exhausted. Compared to his earlier work, Replicants is undoubtedly MillionYoung’s more adventurous material. The tracks have much more room to breathe and the instrumentation is bountiful. Well-structured songs like “Calrissian” and “Perfect Eyes” bestow the gravity to never overstay their welcome. The steady escalation from “On On” is also a treat, as it manages to find the most appropriate time for an electric guitar to bust onto the scene. There’s just not enough quality on Replicants to merit multiple listens. While the album’s mood rises and falls, the same cannot be said about changes in the tracks themselves. The same layers meet up with one another and redundancy shows its’ forgettable face far too often. Usually in these instances, powerful vocals — whether through effects or lyrically — would be around to save the day. Unfortunately the effects imposed on Diaz’s voice are perhaps too dreamy to leave much of an impact....full text |
MillionYoung lyrics
|
| ||||||||||
