Crucify Your Love - Dylan Ettinger
Now this guy has moved on quite a bit. He made one of the landmark statements of Hynagogia, New Age Outlaws from 2010. Some even consider that record to be where H-Pop ended. So where do you go from there? Particularly if people are saying that's the end of the genre but you created one of its masterpieces. Perhaps that call was a little early but all the same, what do you do next? Should you stick with it till the revival comes around? How long would that leave you in the wilderness though? Stasis V progression. This new ep is somewhere in between. It's like the Cabs have hijacked the hynagogia party. There are vocals in in a deep dubbed fug/fog amongst the H-pop sounds. Is that progression or regression? It puts this work in a zone not that far from eMMplekz but more on an easier listening tip, if that makes any sense at all. It's pretty good/Odd!?
OFF/On - Forma (2012)
Finally getting around to hearing this release from very late last year due to SLX having it as their record of the year for 2012. I didn't hate that first LP but it just didn't surpass its influences Cluster, Harmonia et al. This is top notch electronics retaining some of that Kraut vibe but now including 80s drum soundz, soundtracky motifs and even delving into 90s electronica. Who knows in a couple of albums time they may be soundtracking the new future and not the retro-future.
The Garnet Toucan - Monopoly Child Searchers (2012)
Another release from late last year. This time it's the other Skater you know the one who is not James Ferraro. Talk bout becoming the Andrew Ridgley or the other guy from Style Council of Skaters. I have over 30 releases by Mr Ferraro and not one solo outing from Spencer Clark until this landed on my lap. There was the excellent Inner Tube release last year which was a collaboration with Mark McGuire of Emeralds. You could slap a Ferraro label on this and I would be none the wiser. It really could be an old tape from 2009. That's a good thing here. Plastic fourth into fifth world neon soundz makes this a quality LP that I can't stop playing.
Random Access Memories - Daft Punk
Do I really need to add to the discourse of this cd? For what it's worth I fell asleep the first 2 times I listened to this. On the 3rd listen I started to enjoy the tracks towards the end of RAM. I really think this is a bad case of track placement error.
The Elektrik Karousel - The Focus Group
The title says it all really. This is like an acid trip through an horrific fairground (aren't they all a little bit spooky?). The emphasis being on the trip. You get into the zone with this LP and you are on a sonic ghost ride. Dear Wire reviewer I don't need to be English to enjoy this and I don't need to be humming its tunes once the Voyage is over. If I wanted to hum some tunes all day long I'd listen to Abba. This is about listening in the moment and that's what The Focus Group are all about. Another GhostBox gem!
