Apostle of Hustle Albums (3)
'Folkloric Feel'
Release Date 8/10/2004
Tracks 11
Label Arts & Crafts
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What The Critics Say
Had Andrew Whiteman never attempted to play the Cuban guitar, let alone stay eight weeks on an island in the Caribbean Sea, Apostle of Hustle might not have come to be. Apostle of Hustle allowed him to expand his indie rock palate into a nocturnal sphere of Latin music and post rock/experimental threads for what is the mind-bending soundscape of Folkloric Feel. It's complimentary to the various Broken Social Scene offshoots -- Valley of the Giants and Stars -- but also a connection of sorts to Whiteman's personal background and interests. The album's title track highlights the overall cinematic backdrop from the start; sweeping percussion arrangements from Dean Stone and Julian Brown's treading upright bass delivery carries Whiteman's achingly beautiful sentiments of love, truth, and wonder. Select members from the Arts & Crafts recording family -- Brendan Canning, Evan Cranley, Feist, Kevin Drew, Amy Milan, Dave Newfeld, and Lucy Bain -- add to the mesmerizing dynamic of Folkloric Feel. From Newfeld's streamlined production to Drew's chilled piano sounds to Feist's charming harmonies on "King & Queens" and "Animal Fat," Folkloric Feel is a love fantasy. Hushing acoustic guitars creep along to the electric riffs of "Sleepwalking Ballad" for an eerie, yet radiant Jeff Buckley-like moment. "Baby, You're in Luck," which borrows from Toronto singer/songwriter Alex Lukashevsky's "Tammy Twococks," frolics with sparse Latin shades and Milan's icy vocals for the album's darkest, heartbreaking narrative. Apostle of Hustle offers an abstract, poetic design and fluid emotional illustrations a plenty on this album. Whiteman's personal honesty and seriousness for fleshing out what's in his head (and his heart) is what makes Folkloric Feel a stunning 2004 release. Apostle of Hustle is Whiteman's chance to be a storyteller and Folkloric Feel is his fairy tale. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
'National Anthem of Nowhere'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 12
Label United Artists
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What The Critics Say
Despite the steady presence of Latin percussion, tres, and Spanish poetry, there is little Latin about Apostle of Hustle's second album, National Anthem of Nowhere. None of the bolero-inspired songs from Folkloric Feel shuffle between the circling guitar lines and pounding drums that control and comprise the record. The experimental side to Andrew Whitehead and his crew remains, however, as they discard notions of cleanly cut verses and choruses and concentrate more on overall effect and tone. Actually, the songs that wander a bit within the layered electric guitars lines, that are darker and more menacing, and that play with trip-hop and post-rock arrangements -- whose drums (both organic and programmed) echo solidly off the vocals and the churning bass -- work better than the songs in which Apostle of Hustle stick more closely to traditional structure and poppy chords. The dramatic title track swirls and moves at a good pace, and manages to keep a kind of three-piece-band feel despite all of the instruments used, while the electronics of "NoNoNo," coupled with whining strings and an acoustic guitar, are ghostly and haunting in their simplicity, and "Cheap Like Sebastien" works well with its juxtaposition of male and female vocals with its playful melody. Unfortunately, the times the band steps into more lighthearted -- at least musically -- territory are not nearly as successful. The Federico Garcia Lorca poem "¡Rafaga!" does nothing but bang around hard-edged electric guitars uninspiringly, while "Chances Are" surges into a near-'90s radio rock arrangement and is, while not bad, not very interesting, especially in comparison to the more sparse, angular phrasing Apostle of Hustle show themselves to be capable of. There are moments of greatness here -- the aforementioned "National Anthem of Nowhere," the flamenco-meets-el charro-meets-Ani DiFranco of "A Fast Pony for Victor Jara," the reverbed rhythm vocals on "Haul Away" -- but the album doesn't quite hold itself up consistently as a whole entity. Its imperfections make it stutter instead of enunciate clearly all it can do, all it has done, and distract from the statement it truly wants to convey. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide
