Music Spectrum

I am a husband, father of three boys, approaching 40, pastor in a conservative Christian denomination. Yes, I love rock ‘n’ roll, and yes, I, on occasion, get out to see shows.

Yet, listening to 120 Days’ new album, set for March 6 release, it dawned on me how strange the circumstances are surrounding me trying to review 120 Days II: I listen to electro-dance music in broad daylight.

The Norwegian group’s beats and synths envelope me through my earbuds, while the sun pours into the coffeehouse (Alterra Lakefront, Milwaukee). Seemingly incongruous, the music paints a whole different scene than the one I can see before my eyes. “Dahle Disco,” a sprawling, nearly 10 minute affair energizes the air more than a triple-shot espresso. As the track emerges from ambient beginnings, you can imagine yourself in the middle of a film where the turning point is being set up as the main character types madly away at a laptop while sitting in the coffeehouse in the middle of a collection of calm, day-to-day patrons. It’s as if the deep bass sounds have uncovered the master plan to thwart crime and economic chaos. Our hero’s inner thoughts of tension and victory hidden from view but revealed by the soundtrack.

OK, so it’s much more likely that 120 Days II and tracks like “Osaka” are meant for 2 a.m. raves where dark rooms flash with passion, dance, strobes, sweat, and intrigue. However, I’m so far from that scene that I must only try to repurpose the music for my surroundings. So the woman walking to a table with her mocha in hand has a new energy and focus imposed on her in my music-led imagination. The couple coming in from a lakefront run looking a post-exercise coffee have hearts that keep beating fast, ready to take off at a sprint. Two women meeting over lunch are no longer just sharing a casual conversation; their words pulse with the deep beat of “SF,” words which will break their world wide open. If this was a video, this is when all of the people in the coffeehouse would start to sway and jive and float and turn this bright and sunny day into a rush of nighttime mystery and quickened pace.

120 Days
Splendour

Looking back on 2011. . .

Do you remember the way Rick Astley reigned MTV with his infectious pop single “Never Gonna Give You Up”? You might have tried to avoid it, but it was on heavy rotation at MTV so that you couldn’t miss it. An earworm of grand proportions, despite Astley’s dorky dancing, the song got into your system.

The truth is, many people out there remember Rick Astley as evidenced by the Internet phenomenon called Rick Rolling. People are sent an email with a link to an important article, but instead, the link takes you to the video of “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Well, imagine if “Never Gonna Give You Up” was made with cooler beats. Imagine that Astley came in dancing in a much cooler way. Imagine that all of the 80’s synth pop vibe came rushing in, filtered through the intervening decades updates in how that synth pop should sound.

If you can imagine that, then you’ve got an idea of what Adventure (Benjamin Boeldt) does on the opening track, “Open Door,” from the album, Lesser Known (released back in March 2011). As the synths crack that door open, you can almost imagine an updated Astley come dancing in, making his way through the streets, crooning in a new style even as the 80’s continue to very much inform the music.

Boeldt’s project takes those 80’s sounds and lays them out in a tremendous way for the current days. If you dig beats and synths and brooding pop, check out tracks like “Feels Like Heaven.” Elsewhere, it’s like Electronic without the guitars—a wash of sound, a spin of the disco ball, anthems of emotional intensity even in what could just be bubbly pop.

Adventure
Carpark Records

Electronics, falsetto vocals, and cellos combine in ethereal beats on When Saints Go Machine’s Fail Forever EP. The Danish group borrows from electronica while making pop songs that span horizons. It’s Bon Iver with crunchiness. It’s Royksopp with a more pop-like structure. See the stunningly filmed video for the title track—combing the angles of a city’s wasted places with the aural hope of lights flashing towards something new.

When Saints Go Machine
!K7 Records

Back at the end of 2004, I reviewed a couple of electronica discs by Jon Hopkins (review), noting that his soundtracking style comes with beats and sometimes guitar-led songs such as on 2001’s Opalescent.

Then I lost track of Hopkins, although I shouldn’t have. He was doing a lot of more high profile work including contributing to Coldplay’s Viva la Vida. Nevertheless, I didn’t keep tracing Hopkins’ career developments until it came across my radar at the end of 2010 that he was a collaborator with Brian Eno on Small Craft on a Milk Sea.

Along with Leo Abrahams, Eno and Hopkins sketch out musical backdrops for dream sequences or misty conditions on the road. These are improvisational musings, and unfortunately, the album begins with three meandering tracks that do not necessarily grab your attention. Instead, they feel as if the conversation had already started, subsided to introspection, but the listeners aren’t treated to the preceding work that leads to the deep moments.

Where the album really begins to gather traction and attention is on track 4, “Flint March,” with its pronounced beat. In fact, that track made me realize that the album’s strongest places are when Jez Wiles steps in with percussion. While Wiles doesn’t share in the songwriting credits, it seems as if his percussion drives the trio of Eno, Hopkins, and Abrahams on those four tracks, pressing their musings towards destinations, their pulsing blips towards pulsations, and their soundtracking towards a score that would propel the story’s movement forward. Tribal rhythms grace “2 Forms of Anger” while Abrahams’ guitars electrify the space.

While Hopkins attracted me to the album, I came away being impressed more by Wiles’ contributions. I assume Hopkins played a significant role in developing those tracks into the propulsion forces that they are, lending his ear to the piano, keyboards, and electronics, but I wish Wiles had been asked to provide the beats for the entire album.

Brian Eno
Jon Hopkins
Jez Wiles’ band, Lazenby
Warp Records

Oh, it’s not a Christmas album, but the opening strains of Dark Party’s Light Years on the track “Easy” remind me of the electronica mixes on Unschooled Christmas. From the now defunct Unschooled Christmas, the album featured tremendously odd, creepy, and punchy electronica versions of Christmas favorites. (Still available here).

Well, Dark Party didn’t set out to make another Unschooled Christmas, but “Easy” sets up a cold winter atmosphere seemingly meant for early dusk, blowing snow, and driving with your neon running lights all lit up on your ride.

The album quickly steps away from the cold weather atmospherics, though, with the second track being the very strong “Patrol Patrol.” It’s the most tuneful with its hummable chorus-like sections. The voiceovers about chasing a blue Lamborghini set a whole scene like a Miami Vice video game.

Overall, Light Years is like entrance into the club music. You’re walking up to the club, going down the set of stairs, checking in with door attendant, and meanwhile there’s this scene setting music pumping on the hall’s speakers. The music sets the stage for the evening, but still holds back something. This ain’t the main event, but it definitely leads to the place where it’s happening.

“Down” brings out an almost tropical club beat with a chiming vocal saying “down.” Neon lights could flash and draw you in with what “Tonight” is doing. The 80’s video game sound effects lead into the bouncing beat and synth pop of “Fifth.” The crisp percussion sounds on “Pilot” make the track fly. Let yourself get caught up in the hip-shaking “Can’t Stop.” And while you’re at it, just let yourself caught up in the whole Light Years experience.

Dark Party
1320 Records

The classic sound is back on History of Modern—sweeping vocals, orchestrated keys, 80’s beats. OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark) returned in fine form with this 2010 offering.

OMD was a mainstay for me back in the late elementary and junior high years of the mid-80’s. My group of friends on the Southdale YMCA Swim Team bonded over music—plugging ourselves into Walkman cassette players on bus rides across Minnesota for Saturday swim meets. We shared with each other the best of what we found out there—stuff that was saying something more than the normal pop fare. And OMD fit the bill for our early romantic days and our yearning for something more.

History of Modern will bring all of that back for anyone else who was enamored with the electro-pop group back in the 80’s. Yet, there’s some fresh crispness here (“New Babies: New Toys”). “If You Want It” waves in pop balladry but comes equipped with enough of a beat to keep it cooking. I also like the chiming effect of the soulful “Sometimes,” which features guest borrowing from the Gospel tune “Motherless Child” for the chorus.

Off a vamp of the sound of someone walking down a concrete corridor, “New Holy Ground” builds a creepy spiritual picture. Meanwhile, “Sister Marie Says” grooves at the expense of the namesake nun who tries to convert the class to Jesus. Yet, the lyrics clearly reveal that the speaker recalls what the nun said about Jesus even though he remains skeptical of the nun’s claims about Jesus.

Perhaps best here is the mash up of OMD’s “Messages” and Aretha Franklin’s “Save Me.” Known as “Save Me,” a bonus track on the U.S. release only, the music crunches with just enough space to leave room for clips of Franklin’s Gospel soul to shine.

OMD
Bright Antenna Records
100% Records