Thursday, May 10, 2007
Posted at
01:21
by
Carly Carioli
DOWNLOAD: Crystal Understanding, "Power Feelings" (mp3)
We have a general rule: hippies and sequencers don't mix. But, as blog nerds have discovered via the already-web-famous track "World with No Windows," Crystal Understanding’s Aaron and Sonya have become a weird, sweet exception. The duo is aligned with the local shit-pop cabal Compound 440r, and like most C440r groups it forsakes (sez their bio) "the usual trappings of rockitude, replacing guitars and basses with handmade claves, computerized beats, and power feelings." Power feelings! For what it’s worth, CU rhymes with VU, and depending on how much hash you smoke, you might come to theorize that their DIY electro steez shares more conceptual turf with no-wave and new age (no-age?) than with your average retard-disco knockoff. Paper Rad's Jacob Ciocci designed the cover of CU's new Hold the Gem, and CU's music offers kind of sonic rhyme to Paper Rad's design philosophy: to wit, a proto-psychedelic digitalia that finds in raw primitivism the pulsating elements of supernatural euphoria. Thanks to Campaign for Real Time/We Are Cassette synth wizard MicL Ptvn, "Power Feelings" has just enough polish to keep from spoiling the cumulative hypnotic effect of Casio presets, boy-girl vox, and shamanistic intentions.
CD Release party not to be missed: Saturday night at the Ark, accompanied by Zombies with Attitude and DJ Mark E. Moon. Info here.
