The Music and Planet Project

Agaaze returns with his third full-length album, a colossus of psychedelic rock and hip-hop that fuses intricate riffage, groovy beats, and soulful experimentation. Spanning 12 tracks, the Cherry Town album is an artistic beast worthy of many full listens from cover to cover. 

One of the true highlights of this LP is that it feels like it sits at just the right nexus of real instrumentation, authentic musicianship and computer-generated effects and production. There is clearly quite a bit of real instrument-playing mixed in with more artificial shaping of the sound. In an age of music increasingly dominated by algorithms and AI-generated effects, it’s refreshing to listen to artists that can bring real musicianship and make it fit in nicely among highly engineered soundscapes.

Another quality worth noting here is the sense of both introspection and precision that the artist exudes throughout the LP. In each track, the listener can tangibly feel the hours spent experimenting and searching for the right guitar riffs and synthesizer textures to express what is happening in his internal world. It’s easy to picture Agaaze making this music in the way that a sculptor or painter would sit for hours in solitude slowly fine-tuning each edge, each texture, each color to demonstrate the image they have in their head. While this is definitely music that is accessible to a general audience, as it often contains fun and danceable beats and melodies, it is also music that particularly appeals to those who can appreciate the precision that comes from really searching for each note in earnest. Sure, we all want a catchy melody to dance to sometimes, but sometimes we also want something deeper. 

Overall, the Cherry Town album contains music that lasts, not something you visit just once or twice for the thrill. Don’t get us wrong – Agaaze definitely has some tracks that provide one central melody to hang onto for the thrill (in tracks like Jewel Thief, Token Clown and Run Free). But he also often keeps things more open-ended and invites you to find your own favorite guitar solo or chorus within a varied composition. Put more simply, Agaaze likes to keep things interesting, and in doing so, really holds the listener’s attention throughout the span of the 12 tracks.

Cherry Town is not an album to miss, particularly if you’re someone who really likes to engage with a piece of music at a deep level. Agaaze clearly poured his heart, soul, and abilities into producing this music, and it’s highly worth diving in to hear the unique soundscapes that came out of the artistic process. Stream it here and check out the rest of Agaaze’s catalogue while you’re at it.