Tim Fite
Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t (Anti-)For the final installment of his Ain’t trilogy, Tim Fite has created a deep, spectacular work of musical craftsmanship. Combining conventional instruments with prerecorded samples of fireworks, botched riffs, and chains being dropped from great heights, the Brooklynite’s taken thousands of minute sounds and reconstructed them, note by note, into beautiful and harmonious compositions of eccentric pop. Atop the mix, signature techniques of excessive vocal layering and stagey talk-singing accentuate Fite’s clever, topical lyrics. Thematically, Ain’t Ain’t Ain’t takes the universally relatable events and emotions of teen life and presents them as a lens to view our adult lives through. In keynote ballad “We Are All Teenagers,” he sings, “We are all prom dessin’, we are all second-guessin’, we are all late for school, we all feel a little bit uncool.” And though we hate to admit it, he’s right. By going back to adolescence, Fite’s made his most mature album. (Sat., 9pm, Lustre Pearl)
This article appears in March 16 • 2012.