Posts Tagged ‘electronica’

Released This Week: Salme Dahlstrom – The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade

Salme Dahlstrom - The Acid Cowgirl Audio TradeSalme Dahlstrom
The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade
Kontainer Music, 2008

Salme Dahlstrom – “Superstar Crash” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/salmedahlstrom-superstarcarcrash.mp3]

Electronically oriented pop music hits all the right spots for some people: Salme Dahlstrom, for those people, can’t be hitting too far off those. The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade is full of interesting synthetic textures and sounds, but at some points, it lacks a bit of that important impact.

Other times, though, Dahlstrom demonstrates a nice understanding with the pop music she’s writing, and it’s those points that really define the record. While this certainly won’t be named electronic album of the year, it does feature some engaging tracks. Where Dahlstrom really succeeds is not her writing, though: Her vocals are straight from the style’s top shelf, shifting with some abandon between a sassy, in-your-face attitude and nicely harmonized standard modern pop.

Sure, The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade isn’t the best album of the year, but Dahlstrom’s vocals will be enough for some to keep listening, and the writing, while fairly typical of pop-centric electronica, isn’t bad enough to drive away listeners.

Spotlight: MGMT

MGMT / Via MySpaceSeveral tracks I’ve been into recently are by the New York-based duo MGMT. “Weekend Wars” starts off as a nice acoustic piece, with melodies and drums not out of place in ’60s music. At :51 the tracks starts to move into different territory, and soon the first chorus starts to hint of the epic heights the song will eventually reach. For me, this occurs at 2:28, as Muse-esque synth arpeggios gently glide over beautiful melodies. The track shifts into a steady march at around 3:21 as the group sings the song’s last message. Overall, the tracks reminds me of The Beatles vs. Muse.

“Time To Pretend” is a little different idea. It starts out with synthpop sweetness and sounds just like a Mates of State song, but with perhaps a wider variety of color and sub-melodies, each of which is a treasure hidden within the layerings of the song. The lyrics are taking a shot at the typical rock star stereotype. This mellow, danceable tune should have you nodding your head with joy.