ELECPHONIC - ELECPHONIC [2006]
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Tracklist:
01 - Don’t Try Fool Me
02 - Freakin On A Sneaka
03 - Going To Goa
04 - Had An Idea
05 - Maria Duval
06 - Data Broka
07 - Ambien
08 - SUV
09 - LFA Sonar
>> Hear it @ CD Baby
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ELECPHONIC
The ELECPHONIC debut is a whimsically Mercurial collection of nine tracks simmered and steeped in a stew of electronica.
Released on Daniel Gannaway's Truly Independent label, ELECPHONIC presents an incisive socio-political commentary in its lyrical content and continues the wryly opinionated tradition of the label's various previous releases, such as OP-ED.
Going to Goa, for example, reflects on the cultivated ignorance of India's many tie-dyed faux-hippy tourists. "I don't really want to know about Goa's long history that stretches back to BC third century, I just want to get high by the Arabian Sea... I'm going to grow my hair and get braids and beads; I'm going to do yoga under the ubiquitous coconut tree."
A standout track is the humorously titled Freakin on a Sneaka, deriding the bizarre, though unstoppably popular sneaker culture/industry. "Pumping the price up with limited runs, vintages and retros and new combinations, they make crazy money while people slave in sweat shops off shoe addicts like me just hanging for the Quickstrike... 300 pair locked down in dry storage. Ain't even been worn, still got them in their boxes..."
In a later track, waxing philosophical on America's fascination with oversized 4x4s, ELECPHONIC prophetically states of the SUV: "I'll always be happy as long as I have my toys." It seems that feeding the West's need for distractions, indulgences and toys is a global preoccupation that we foolishly call 'growth and progress'...
Truly quirky, yet indulgently crafted, ELECPHONIC is at its heart an exercise in musical creationism in that it arrives fully-formed from the ether with not a hint of evolution or precedent. The album can be enjoyed on a variety of levels, for it is musically competent, engaging and varied, and also taps the rich vein of 'currency' offered by electronica.
It's the lyrical adeptness, though, that holds the ear. For while the compositions build, crescendo and fall with great personality, the words have a lingering resonance which gives each track a depth of character not entirely familiar to the electronic genre.
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Review - NZ Musician Magazine
ELECPHONIC: Self-titled
By Ania Glowacz
This is a somewhat unconventional foray into electronica. Unusual in that the lyrics are significant and important - yet are vocoded and treated with a variety of alien-type effects, rendering them a little incoherent on first or most listens. It takes a bit of patience and concentration to fully appreciate this work. There's a lot of retro synths and disco beats in the music, along with more trance-type and contemporary elements that also distract from the core of the material - the words (provided). So whilst the lyrics have something to say (topics include SUVs, wasted hippies in Goa, the violent effects of sonar on marine life, the sneaker industry), they're not immediately obvious. Some of it sounds dated and a bit clumsy, but the tweaked and twisted electronics with a slightly sinister feel are original (a touch Scritti Politti, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, Marilyn Manson?) It's experimental, political and a bit of a grower. There's a healthy sense of humour behind it all, and some tracks would work well on a compilation or soundtrack. Truly quirky - give it a try.
>> NZ Musician Magazine |
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Contact:
>> trulyindependent at gmail.com |
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