Charles Laney Charles Laney
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  • PROJECTS
    • Midnight & Lion: TRCL
    • FADERS
    • All This
  • LYRICS
  • GALLERY
  • ABOUT
    • MINI BIO
    • SUPPORTERS
    • CONTACT
  • THE CROWN
  • @XCLNY
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
One Last Midnight & Lion:
The Restoration of Charles Laney


Digital Downloads

 An Innovative, Original, 16-Track
100% Self-Produced Album
1 Hour 12 Mins

"The album is dauntless, cunning, and weaves eccentric subject matters with precariously adroit production. Scrupulously, sequenced to unravel like an avant-garde indie short."

- Illustr3us  Music Group
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Recent Reviews

Beachsloth
Illustr3us Music
Keiwan
Novamusic
Beachsloth

Charles Laney embraces the darkness on the foreboding bombastic beats of “Midnight & Lion”. Firmly rooted in hip-hop, Charles Laney incorporates a great variety of different genres within the mix, featuring elements of industrial, noise, glitch, and electro into a unique hybrid. Right in the center of the whole thing from which all else flows are the fantastic vocals that have a commanding presence. Akin to the stylistic kaleidoscopic that consumes the sound itself, Charles Laney proves to be impeccable delivery, whether it is the higher kinetic energy of the opener or the laid-back vibes that dominate some of the later tracks.

“Bring the Heat” opens the album as a feverish nightmare, full of chaos. There is a slight nod towards the nostalgic. Rhythm gets messed with on the pace of molasses of the dazed “Rock & Roll”. IDM melodies emerge on the surprisingly stately “Potent Love Potion”. Nimble flourishes intermingle on the playful “Cool Girl”. A slight nod towards the dramatic runs through “The Work I Put In”. Aggression defines the woozy “Beautiful By Design”. Going for a sprawling ambitious journey is the immersive “Lord of the Crowns”. Economical grooves anchor the cryptic “Snakes”. Nicely closing out the album is the reflective ode of “Rock & Roll (Part II)”.

With “Midnight & Lion” Charles Laney is a deft storytelling, not only being able to describe a journey through a life lived to the fullest but to convey the emotion associated in that experience.

 

Illustr3us Music
Sonically offering a cinematic backdrop every song is it’s own statement. The transitions are meticulously cultivated each song is a scene in a scenic artistic noir. The Columbus, Ohio native has journeyed all the way to Los Angeles where’s he’s been able to hone and aggregate a distinct sound. “Midnight & Lion“ incorporates a compendium of elements including HipHop, Lo-Fi, DrumNBass, DownTempo, Progressive House, and Instrumental. The album is a bricolage of quirky lyrics, off center content, and riveting production.

Driven by lead saw synths and HipHop drum patterns the production is unconventional and intriguing. A few of the standout tracks include“ The Work I Put In” which sees Charles Laney displaying his lyrical deftness as he raps “Move it to the beat move your feet get rhythm, squares to a prism what’s a diamond to an album”, “Long Gone”, “Beautiful by Design” and “Lord of the Crowns”. On the latter record he states “I record fire, fire catches fire, fire me, fireman” rapping couplets with ease. The Los Angeles based artist covers a myriad of topics–The “Midnight & Lion” is an artistic, experimental endeavor.

Inundated in peculiarity Charles Laney feels at his best. The album is dauntless, cunning, and weaves eccentric subject matters with precariously adroit production. Scrupulously, sequenced to unravel like an avant-garde indie short. Laced with 16 tracks the Ohio native releases a thrilling, and captivating listening experience.
Keiwan
The 16-track project “Midnight & Lion” gives a perfectly sized glimpse into the world of Charles Laney, with it’s rarely heard futuristic style and upbeat (yet refreshingly gritty at times) vocal performances. The overall production on this project is very hype-like and experimental, such as the very first track titled “Bring The Heat” which instantly shows off the high energy sound that is greatly displayed throughout the album. One of the tracks that I really took intrigue with, is the song titled “Beautiful by Design” which I can totally see being a club anthem due to its super relatable lyrics on the party life, and the production on the song will automatically make the listener want to jump up and down. I really appreciate the creativity and originality Charles Laney brings to this album, especially because of the “copy and paste” sound that Hip-Hop/Rap is currently going through with not too many artists being able to find their own style. “Midnight & Lion” would be a great opportunity to market in both the Hip-Hop/Rap and Alternative audiences, as it would be hard to classify this project into being just one genre, which is a great thing due to the vast wave of listeners that will potentially come from this. Overall, none of the 16 tracks on this album sound anything alike which is pretty amazing and shows the level of creativity that Charles Laney brings to the table. I definitely enjoyed listening to each track on this project, and I would highly recommend this to any music listeners looking for a sound and style that’s currently going under the radar!
Novamusic

Charles Laney is a self contained independent underground artist from Columbus, Ohio, skilled in writing, production, engineering and performing, who comes out with a 16-track album that is nothing short of eclectic, titled “Midnight & Lion“.

Focused on a sophisticated experimental search for sound, with “Midnight & Lion” Charles Laney aims to set up an innovative and complex creative flow that goes back and forth with relation to the deconstruction of canonical musical conventions.

Started in November 2011, the production of this album has seen a multi-stage development, with several prototypes leaked and retracted over time, while the project continued to be updated and improved.

The version available today really sounds like it might be the final version, which in its entirety shows a non-static organic unity that seems to have a life of its own.

Evolutionary in its genesis and development and equally alien and histrionic in the listening experience, “Midnight & Lion” by Charles Laney is, from what we have heard to date, the most distant we can be from classifications of genre and style. It certainly derives some sound from indie pop and hip-hop, but then takes such different paths that Charles Laney‘s music ends up being as far as possible from those genres.

For sure, this is not an album for everyone. Not even for many. But equally for sure this isn’t automatically a flaw.

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