Chemical Legs - Com Truise (2012, Adult Swim Singles Program)

New Jersey-based synth master Com Truise offers us a new track, Chemical Legs, as part of Adult Swim’s 2012 singles program. Com Truise’s retro-tastic track follows on from entries by the likes of The Field, Flying Lotus, The Hives and more, and all are available for free over on the Adult Swim website.

Circumambient - Grimes - Visions (2012, 4AD)

Over the past couple of years, quirky Canadian musician Grimes has built up a sizeable underground following for her ethereal synth-pop. But Visions, her third LP and first major release, is verging on breaking through to the mainstream. More polished than anything she has created before, the album is soaked with pulsing synth lines and booming kick drums. With less reverb, Visiting Statue could pass for a new Kylie Minogue track. And with a little more swag, Circumambient would be approaching modern R&B, a la The Weeknd. Indeed, in many ways Visions is aching to crossover. But it won’t quite make it— for want of a better word, it’s just a bit too weird. And it’s the reasons why that make it so special.

There’s a shadowy ambience that bubbles under the poppier aspects of her music, definitely assisted by frequent, deliciously unexpected harmonic developments. And then there are her vocals— they’re nearly always at the front of the soundscape, but few lines are decipherable. Most are layered, reverbed and pitch-shifted to the point of lyrical obscurity, resulting instead in a focus on the floating wisps of melody. Grimes also demonstrates an ability to use open space in her music to great effect, as apparent on the album’s less beat-driven latter half; although at times this use of space can end up being disengaging.

In a couple of years someone will probably repackage what Grimes is doing now and hit it big, but for now she is just a bit too ahead of her time to be mainstream. And that’s why this album is worth your time. (A review of Visions I wrote for Rave)

VHS Sex - Com Truise - Galactic Melt (2011, Ghostly)

Another fantastic, synth-drenched track from Com Truise’s highly recommended LP Galactic Melt.

Nevermore - Michael Cassette - Temporarity (2010, Anjunadeep)

Eighties pop and contemporary progressive house are really quite contrasting genres. However, in his debut LP Temporarity, the enigmatic Michael Cassette has taken these two different styles of music and somehow merged them together flawlessly, to create an album that sounds both retro and futuristic at the same time.

That’s not to say Temporarity is perfect, there is some definite filler on this album. Tracks such as Crockett’s Theme and the surprisingly dull Pangaea seem to go nowhere at all, and for far too long. But the style and production throughout every track is flawless and quite unique, and when everything comes together, it works fantastically. The album opener My Name Is Michael Cassette is a great example of how well it can work, with its deliciously tilting synth lines and driving bass. The current single Ghost in the Machine is another standout, as well as previous singles Shadow’s Movement and Kilimanjaro (despite some questionable bird calls edited into the album version).

But the biggest surprise of the album for me was the vocal tracks, Through The Windows and Nevermore. Each clocking in at under five minutes, these tracks don’t really take the extended progressive house form most of the other tracks on the album do. With the flawlessly eighties-sounding vocals, they’re a lot more pop influenced, and on the surface they sound like they could have been lifted straight from the 1980’s. But the progressive house sound is definitely still there, bubbling under the surface, and the production is just too clean and modern to be from twenty years ago. In a way these tracks exhibit the retro futuristic feel of Temporarity perfectly, and when you add to that the fact they’re really quite catchy (especially Nevermore), they have some serious crossover potential.

Aidys Girl Is A Computer - Darkstar - North (2010, Hyperdub)

If it had of been released on any other label, I don’t think anyone would classify Darkstar’s debut LP North as dubstep, but after being released on the most respected label in the genre, the classification was inevitable. However, North is more 80’s synth-pop than dubstep, quite a retrospective sound to be classified as part of a genre that many proclaim as the future of electronic music. Although it is definitely an interesting listen, fans of their earlier work (such as their underground hit Aidys Girl Is A Computer, which makes a re-appearance on North) may well be a bit disappointed.

Then again, it is a very accessible route into deeper, more underground dubstep along the lines of Shackleton, Scuba and 2562. So if you’re looking for a way into dubstep that isn’t all club-happy mid-range wobble, you could do a lot worse. And Aidys Girl Is A Computer is still a kick-ass track.

I’ve been reading some rather negative press about Goldfrapp following the release of their fifth LP Headfirst. Mediocre reviews, Spanish TV lip-synching scandals, they’ve had their share of bad press this week.

I’m not sure it’s quite fair either. Considering Alison’s undeniably incredible voice, I have no idea why she would be lip-synching. And in relation to the new LP, it’s definitely very different to their last release. But while Seventh Tree had charm and a few incredibly beautiful songs (Clowns and A&E are some of the most moving songs I own), it was pretty much widely regarded as being largely boring, something I’d have to agree with. 

Head First is much more reminiscent of their second LP, Black Cherry. Much more upbeat, with the same neon-drenched feel, Head First returns to the synth-pop sound of their second and third albums, this time with a distinctly 80’s edge. At times it reminds me of Moloko, at others of Serge Santiago. But it is really very distinctly Goldfrapp. There may be a couple of duds (I Wanna Life hasn’t made a good impression, and the title track sounds awfully like Abba), but at its best Head First is Goldfrapp on top form, building on their previous work to produce a fun, energetic album. It may be a little too pop at times (I’m not going to lie, I Wanna Life sounds more like something Cyndi Lauper would turn out than I can deal with), but this is balanced by deeper tracks, such as Dreaming, or the Seventh Tree-esque Voicething. And at times the poppier sound hits the nail right on the head, Rocket has to be one of the catchiest tracks the duo have produced.

The song above, Believer, is kind of an all-rounder. It has an definite pop feel, but is is still undeniably Goldfrapp. Different features of the song hark back to all of their previous work. The vocals are at times ethereal, such as something off Felt Mountain or Seventh Tree. The synths have the deep, neon-infused feel of Black Cherry. And the chorus is as catchy as anything you’d find on Supernature. But it still sounds fresh and different, the features all combine to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

However, I would agree with one of the things most of the critics have said about the album. As Kitty Empire from The Observer stated, “Having pre-empted the wave of womanly electro, they now appear to be behind rather than ahead of the curve”. Although this new album is definitely catchy and mostly pretty good, it doesn’t have the same innovative spark that a lot of their previous work did.

But I really like the album art, so that’s okay.