Chad Valley – Equatorial Ultravox 8.1

                I first heard of Chad Valley about a month or so ago. When I heard the fifth track on here “Fast Challenges” I felt pretty excited. Here was an artist going back to the proud tradition of trance pop from the early 90s. Unlike some others working in the same sound, he deftly avoided any trace of irony. No, his work sounded fairly genuine, heartfelt even. 

                “Reach Lines” is truly great. The sound is pristine. I’m a little blown away. I mean, here we have all these artists obsessing about creating a lo-fi sound to impress others. Listening to it I’m reminded of a sweet Washed Out track. Vocals come from far away. Just for those not convinced, they bring out the vocoder. Oh this makes me happy. 

                With the full album, I’m reminded a bit more of the nostalgic vibes everyone’s been surfing on lately. Chad Valley’s work succeeds with the sheer smoothness of delivery. All those vocals make up most of the sound, taking up huge amounts of space. Vocals are more of an instrument than mere backup. This isn’t a bad thing; countless artists (Cocteau Twins) have convinced me of the importance on focusing of the texture of the sound. Besides, this is in English unlike the Twins’ made-up language. 

                Actually, most of the album explores the 80s more than that teaser “Fast Challenges” hinted. I’m not bothered by this fact. You’ll probably politely hum along with most of this album. The warmth it contains makes it pretty hard to dislike. Even the melodies are infectious.

                Of course, there are a lot of bands using a similar sound. Immediately the group “Games” comes to mind. Like Games, it stays true to a pop format, with all seven of these songs staying within five minutes or less. Similar to Games, it explores the myriad percussion and synthesizer pads. But the main difference is the more human approach to pop. The experimental impulse of the sound is kept in check by the human vocals. It’s a great summer album. Shame he isn’t coming to the US.

RadioSeed – Train of Transformation

                I’m really hoping there’s some sort of 90s ambient trance revival. Maybe it is on the cusp of happening, as witnessed by such groups as Games and RadioSeed, who seem to hold the same feeling of nostalgia I had for the era. Each day I’d turn on the radio to get constantly more unabashedly sweet, well-paced vocal heavy stuff. Those times, I’m convinced, need to return.

                Well, it appears RadioSeed’s been busy concocting another bunch of songs for an upcoming EP. Regarding when it will be dropping, we’ll have to hope around springtime, though who knows when spring will arrive with all these false starts. 

                Here’s one of the songs which will be on that EP. The sample selection in the beginning “You’ll never reach” is so perfect. Peter really has done a great job with the sounds, pacing, and melody. Everything is rather subtle, the approach, the style. Light little flourishes help it rise above a great deal of just endlessly looped stuff. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound growing thicker and thicker. 

                Maybe the EP will come out right in time for spring. Let’s hope. 

                The Song Itself.

Games – That We Can Play 7.2

Oneohtrix Point Never’s influence is heavily felt in this release, much more so than in their previous offering “Everything is working”. Here they seem to hit that sweet spot between nostalgic remembering and the creation of something new. In other words, it succeeds where the previous effort sounded weak or thin.

Don’t worry; it isn’t as if this is very difficult music. The pop elements expose themselves immediately like they did in the previous release. Unlike that one, there’s much more in the way of hooks (if that’s possible) and the keyboards are in full effect. Remember that wonderful soaring synthesizers that Dan Lopatin specializes in? Yeah, that is here.

The more I listen to this, the more this appears to celebrate cheesy trance pop from the 90s. Can Games lead the pack towards this particular part of the 90s wave, of guilty pleasures with trance pop? “Strawberry Skies” sounds like it might have fit in nicely with Paul van Dyke’s “Castles in the Sky”. As much fun as this one is, I really adore “Shadows in Bloom”.  This song I wish went on for a few more minutes, it is just so damn addictive, in particular those jerking edits. 

In case the four songs weren’t enough, there’s a Games remix of CFCF and CFC remix of Games. Honestly, I prefer the original Games mix of “Strawberry Skies” and I haven’t heard the original CFCF, but Games’ mix sounds pretty sweet.

Overall, this solidifies my support for these guys. They are moving in the right direction.

Greatest Hits – Danse Pop 7.9

Olde English Spelling Bee is on something of a roll with these releases this year. Here’s another great pick of nostalgic pop music, but it is sadly only an EP.

Sure, the Games project for Oneohtrix Point Never did cover this same kind of territory, but Greatest Hits mine it even harder. Besides just using the average pop samples, there is some acknowledgment of internet humor on here: listen to the end of “Danse Pop” where it sounds like a song from Homestar Runner. In case there’s too many references on here, no worries, the music works well as straightforward pop music as well.

80s nostalgia isn’t all that’s here: more than a few times I felt like some early 90s lite.fm hits were being resurrected from the dead. “Make You Mine” sounds like an Ace of Bass song gone very wrong. Or that might just be my own wish.

As the painfully short collection of songs ends, we’re treated to the darker “Ambulance” which is a great, glitched up electroclash beauty. In case you needed more evidence, may I present you with their wonderful video? Enjoy!

Ambulance 

Games – Everything is Working 6.6

Dan Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never teams up with Joel Ford of Tiger City to celebrate 70s and 80s cheesy funk. Like all Oneohtrix Point Never stuff it works for reasons you can’t quite describe.

According to interviews Dan has given, he stated that he used to just endlessly loop parts of youtube videos, slightly changing the tempos, pitches and layers. So it is natural that at some point he’d be unable to resist doing that for a whole music project. Besides, Oneohtrix Point Never does that to some degree, mixing high and low culture in infinity expanding waves. 

The A side certainly comes across as a little bit like that. Obviously they had a bunch of fun making the first side. “Everything is Workings” seems a bit too easy. A few pieces moved around here and there to goofy effect. It is the second half “Heartland” which really excels.

Oh, it isn’t like “Heartland” takes itself seriously. There’s plenty of stupidity to go around, but it feels more like a full-fledged song. Whatever has been done was done quietly, subtly. It works as a great track, and sort of makes me wonder how much of a music nerd Dan really is.

A good start to what might be a full project (here’s hoping). But we'll probably have a better idea in a longer format, since that's what Dan tends to excel in.