Martijn William Zimri Teerlinck, a.k.a. The Child of Lov

I have 7388 songs on my iPod. It’s hard to keep track of all my favourites, and I can be fickle with new downloads – an artist can become my latest craze for a few weeks, and then I’m on to the next one.

The same thing happened with The Child of Lov. I was first introduced to him when sent some promo material preceding the release of his first album last year, did a review on it – which involved eating, sleeping and breathing the album for a few days – and completely fell in love with it. Until I was sent another promo and it gradually fazed out of my Top 25 Most Played.

Though I’ve always been excited to see what direction he was heading in – how his music would evolve, and his highly anticipated live tours, during which his previously anonymous identity would probably be unveiled. When he randomly popped into my head yesterday and I hit him up on Google, I saw that he’d sadly passed away 3 months ago. So I’m a bit behind and more than gutted. It’s frustrating that such an amazing talent couldn’t have been nurtured, and a shame that his genius is so little circulated that it hadn’t come up on any feeds. The death of a talented musician is always big news, and I feel he deserves the same recognition.

In my own tribute to his fantastic work, I’ll leave you with the review I wrote – old news now, but new news for those ears that are yet to be graced with his awesomeness, and I’m guessing there’s more than a few pairs. 5/5 may be a generous reward, but I still stand by every word. Have a listen to his stuff.

The Child of Lov – Self Titled (2013)

With the identity of Cole Williams, or as he prefers to call himself, Child of Lov, unknown, you’d think his music would be something of a mystery. His reluctance to reveal information about himself is intriguing and has probably kept his fans on their toes with anticipation. Now his debut self-titled album, Child of Lov, will give you a window into his soul – behind the depth of the music, you can easily hear his genuine passion for what he does.

It’s difficult to put him under the umbrella of a single genre. His music is a blend of, seemingly, whatever he feels comes together – incorporating hip hop, electronic, R&B and neo soul to name a few – but soul is the real vibe behind it, created by the smoothness of his D’Angelo inspired falsetto vocals. Throughout the album, he’s overlapped two different pitches of his voice, making the music richly layered; pulling you into what he has to say.

With ‘Call Me Up’ the album sets off on a toned down note, with a heavy, slow beat. It picks up later on with tunes like ‘Heal’, the debut single, and ‘Fly’, my personal favourite and another promotional single. There’s everything from feel good lyrics and a Beach-Boys-style interlude (“Give it to the people now, this is what the world’s about”) in ‘Give it to the people’; to the random, off-beat sounds of ‘Living the circle’ – successfully executed randomness without being messy; to the trance-like hypnotic vocals in ‘Owl’. A lot of the sounds he makes appear wildly creative and carefree on the surface, but actually assemble really well into something seriously mature and skilled. You can tell everything is well thought out as each sound reveals itself level after level – as it must be, from releasing an album two years after Child of Lov was born.

There’s a strong assortment of heavy bass, sharp drums and guitar plucking to slow, mellow keyboard work. The imagination needed to make this sort of music would appeal to fans of Tyler the Creator or Madlib, or of course of the contributing artists, DOOM, Thundercat and Damon Albarn, in whose Studio 13 the album was recorded.

There isn’t a fault I can see with any part of the album. It’s varied from track to track, exciting, artistic and completely original and free of sampling. Electronic-oriented albums can tend to be a bit samey, but this one is perfectly balanced. It’s definitely something for the digital music lover who wants something on the unique side.

Track Listing:

1. Call Me Up
2. Heal
3. One Day (featuring Damon Albarn)
4. Living the Circle
5. Give Me
6. Go With the Wind
7. Owl (featuring DOOM)
8. Fly
9. Warrior
10. Give It to the People

5/5

Romance probably is dead then

Being a night owl, it’s not uncommon for me to decide to go to bed early and yet end up actually going to sleep at the usual early hours of the morning. I tend to get carried away on this endless chain of tab hopping – I’ll see something interesting on Twitter, Google it, and find that I’m taken on a wild journey of obscure ‘research’. For example, if one were to peek at what I’ve got open this moment, they may end up perusing over ‘Anger, rage and the spiritual path’, ‘Trial of Michael Jackson’, ‘Jack the Ripper Suspects’, ‘How to master the Marcel wave in 5 easy steps’, and ‘Is social media destroying your human relationships?’ (A great animation by the way.) Not to mention a dozen video hosting websites that amounted to nothing when I was trying to watch Ja’mie: Private School Girl. I got it in the end. (It led me to extensively stalk Chris Lilley on every platform I could think of – you get the picture.)

But something in particular caught my eye last night, and once I’m faced with a philosophical hypothesis I can’t help but let it consume my mind in a Catch-22-type scenario. I came across an article on Buzzfeed entitled ’16 Scientific Reasons Love Is Bad For You’ – I have 24 hours to find a date for Valentine’s Day but with the odds against me I found this information both appropriate and a small respite for my aching heart.

Now don’t get me started on conspiracies. The idea that we can only speculate like headless chickens is almost too much to bear – I’m nosy, I seek hard facts. But a manipulation of ourselves by ourselves? The idea that we have been raised like pigs for slaughter as sex slaves of the higher power? Does this make sex the be all and end all of human existence? What a chilling thought.

So I glanced over Helen E. Fisher et al.’s essay ‘Romantic love: a mammalian brain system for mate choice‘. Do take a gander if you’ve got the patience – it does make for very interesting reading – but to be honest it’s a hell of a lot of black and white and not enough pictures. However, what I gleaned from it disturbed me. Apparently horniness is just a way to keep the family name fresh, with a ‘range’ of different partners. This surely suggests that a) Jesus had the right idea b) China overdid it and are now paying for it c) polygamy is the natural way of life and d) we’d do well to just stop giving head now, it’s pointless. The fact that sex’s use-value is in fact practicality rather than leisure is enough to put porn, and pop if you will, stars on the streets. (On that note – Ron Jeremy’s rendition of Wrecking Ball? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but… genius.)

Fisher also says that the attachment, love’s finest feature, spurs couples to stick together long enough for him to get her up the duff. In other words your relationship is a ticking time bomb where the only outcome is parenthood. I imagine sleeping around on a regular basis has the same affect – why have several chances with one man when you can have several chances with several men, I ask myself. I wonder if Helen Fisher is a swinger.

And next time you’re being stalked by a psychotic admirer, just remember that it’s all part and parcel of ‘courtship attraction’ (‘increased energy, focused attention, obsessive following, affiliative gestures, possessive mate guarding and motivation to win a preferred mating partner’ (Fisher 2004)) and completely normal. ‘She wants the D’ suddenly takes on a new meaning – the poor girl is simply a victim of human instinct and actually wants your babies. Nothing to worry about at all.

Sometimes I get scared about the fact that I’m trapped inside my own mind and can’t escape, especially when I’m lying in bed after a night out, fighting the urge to be sick and earthing myself with a toe so that the room stops spinning, and I can’t stop thinking about gooey chocolate cake. But even scarier is the notion that my mind isn’t mine. It’s not my friend. It’s conspiring against me, trying to get me pregnant. I’m not ready. I have so much life to live. So I don’t see any alternative except double-crossing myself by becoming a Buddhist monk or a lesbian. As I gaze upon Dan Osbourne’s impossible physique, I will feel nothing. Watch this space.

Anyway – I address you, happy couples across the nation, urging that as you celebrate Valentine’s you look into each other’s eyes above your overpriced dinner searching for the answer to ‘Will this ever lead to reproduction?’ Because if not, loved ones, you might consider getting the bill ’cause it’s all over for you. And to my fellow lonely hearts, lost souls, free spirits – when asked ‘Hey, you know what’s sexy?’ remember School Spirit Skit 1. ‘No, I don’t know what it is, but I bet I can add up all the change in your purse very fast.’

P.S. I only got to page 3 of the ‘Romantic love’ article and then got hungry so if you guys finish it and want to add anything, please feel free to do so below.