March 18, 2015 – Thoughts Detecting Machines, AWOLNATION, Milk & Bone

Another week, another drop, another dump of emails in my inbox and another week spent listening to all the new stuff when all I really want is to lie down on the floor and listen to Fall Out Boy. I’M KIDDING. The albums I’m focusing on this week are a little more electro focused, which is great if you like that kind of stuff, and if you don’t, that’s just too bad. Here’s what’s good now, besides Kendrick Lamar’s surprise drop of To Pimp A Butterfly, which is what everybody should really be listening to.

Thoughts Detecting Machines – Work The Circuits

God bless all the artists starting to go solo lately and release incredible work. Rick Valentin from Poster Children pushes his solo project, Thoughts Detecting Machines, and it’s something else entirely. Work The Circuits is exactly the kind of heavy, semi rock-infused electro I like to hear. The beats have tons of variety, especially “In The Right,” one of the best songs on the album, hands down. Valentin hadn’t written a song by himself in 20 years, and the somewhat rudimentary and early primitive electro sound of the album shows that. However, I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing– I like the rawness of the album, the Thom Yorke-reminiscent ambient vibes and the way everything flows together, seemingly almost naturally falling into place.

Rating: 7/10

AWOLNATION – Run

I don’t really care about AWOLNATION as far as my interest in vague semi-electro bands goes, but I was curious to listen to their second album, Run. It’s fine. I mean, the beats and rhythms are interesting– as always, AWOLNATION make a decent sound, but nothing too over-the-top exciting or interesting. I did like that “Jailbreak” song, but everything else on the album wasn’t necessarily top special stuff. Still, I admire them for trying to break past their one hit wonder status and for putting out an album that they think someone will care about– the effort here is pretty blatant, and it’s obvious they wanted this album to succeed just as much as that “Sail” song.

Rating: 5/10

Milk & Bone – Little Mourning

Another sweet Canadian electro pop duo is hitting up the national indie mainstream hive mind, and Milk & Bone are very much worth it. I hope they’ll be more than just this year’s Band Of The Summer (I mean, look what happened to Chvrches). Little Mourning is their gorgeous debut album, full of sweet but careful and strategic electro beats and soft rhythms and paired with the two somehow perfectly matched voices of  Laurence Lafond-Beaulne and Camille Poliquin. The electro-pop vibe is evident, but the synths seem to be a little more gentle and a little more layered– as if there is more character to them than just computer sounds.

Rating: 8/10