[3/5] It's reasonable to be leery of any album that arrives with a back-story about some long-distance collaboration between the titular participants; the circumstances of the disc's creation are usually more interesting than the results. However, this bicoastal, by-e-mail pairing of Anticon beat maker Alias and ambient vocalist Tarsier (a.k.a. Rona Rapadas, the female half of the Brooklyn-based production duo Healamonster & Tarsier) has more than novelty going for it. Over the past few years, Alias' melodic found-sound sculptures have helped his label transcend its reputation for producing only egghead rap, and on Brookland/Oaklyn, Tarsier's multi-tracked vocals both ground and sweeten this project. The big beats, spacious synths, and swirling fragments of acoustic and electric guitar coalesce into a handsome whole, although the lack of outstanding songs makes Brookland/OaklynM/i> more a nice set of trip-hoppy background music than as an essential album.
(ANTICON) Dan LeRoy
 Official Website: http://www.anticon.com
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