Indie-electro-funk – never not a good idea, eh?…
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[5.50]
Chuck Eddy: Gravity-free falsetto faux-funk, thankfully not as vague as the rest of Underneath The Pine (well, at least the few tracks I got through before I started wanting to punch something), but still pretty vague. Reminds me of the Junior Boys, which is weird, because I never figured they’d left much of an impression the first place. So probably I’m wrong, and I’m thinking of Hercules and Love Affair instead. Or just yet more sub-par Arthur Russell.
[4]
Josh Langhoff: Chaz Bundick’s album last year annoyed the heck out of me, because its meandering programmed tracks didn’t signify “shimmering haze of nostalgic pop delights” so much as “inability to come up with decent songs”. So I’m surprised to like this tune, even though rigorously-structured songcraft remains beside the point. He’s still all about sound, and the sounds are vibrant: all the little noises and syncopated burbles, the snare, even the clunky little P-Funk bassline. Aside from the overlong blissout in the middle, “Still Sound” seems to know where it’s going. Since he’s playing it all live this time, I wonder if this makes me rockist?
[7]
Martin Skidmore: American indie with electronic beats of a relaxed kind, topped with indie’s major regular fatal flaw, terrible singing — his voice is weak, thin and not terribly tuneful. I suppose the aim is a pretty dreaminess something like Air’s finest moments, but for me it just seems like amateurish background music.
[2]
Alfred Soto: Perverse indie artist ruins serviceable mid seventies lounge-band tinkle by applying several layers of dust and reverb. Another example of The Ariel Pink Dictum.
[6]
Jer Fairall: What’s next, Elevator-core?
[3]
Edward Okulicz: It sounds like Escort doing MGMT, and that’s a good thing: they have the latter’s groove with the former’s expansive, luxurious sprawl. A loungey disco sound, if you will, and the singing doesn’t get in the way for the most part, thin as it is, because it’s at least atmospheric if not melodically hooky. The band seem to know this, though, putting a distracing echo effect on it which seems to emphasise the problem. Nonetheless, passes the “can you dance to it”? test easily.
[7]
Alex Ostroff: The funky keyboard intro to “Still Sound” vaguely reminds me of MGMT’s “Electric Feel” at first, but as the song develops the comparison feels progressively less apt. MGMT’s hit is a tightly coiled pop song; ‘Still Sound’ is looser, groovier, a little more slinky, and with a tad more jazz to it. If it feels like it’s drifting without much direction at moments, so be it. Its off-the-cuff vibe is its greatest strength.
[8]
Zach Lyon: Loose and effortless, sounds like it took an hour to make, way too enjoyable for the “lo-fi” or “chillwave” label anymore.
[7]