midnight juggernauts - dystopia
having read about these australians a little in recent months, and being a fan of their electro’d up remix for the noisy punk-funk gang, these damn arms, i was rather keen to hear the album.
despite the wonderful cover art being covered by a massive irremovable sticker making mention of the fact that someone has strangely connected this album to psychedelic furs (yes in parts) and tangerine dream (don’t get this reference at all), i still decided to take a punt and see if the glowing reviews were right.
and in short - they are.
this is exactly the kind of music that is making ireallylovemusic happy in 2008.
electronically enhanced pop music in which synths, guitars and tunes are combined in ear pleasingly wonderful ways.
reading the website gubbins you’d think that dystopia is an electro obsessed star gazing prog rock wig out, which in some ways it is.
starting off with a dramatic synthetic sweep the listener is drawn into the bands alternative sci-fi universe, full of pulsating analogue synths that have been genetically enhanced via some matrix styled computer virus, fleshed out strings and heartwarming song structures.
i mean check out into the galaxy and try and stop yourself having a huge grin from ear to ear as the chorus kicks in for the umpteenth time, or then again, stop yourself having a personal glitterball boogie to the even better plastic disco funk of shadows, or even more necessary, stop yourself from having a weird 80s themed timewarp during the superb darker moods of worlds converged (which it has to be said is far too short at two minutes).
in fact, there have been days in recent weeks when this album has made me contemplate throwing away my complete archive such is the addictive nature of this 47 minute opus.
then after 4 listens, the penny drops.
dystopia is an updated justice via daft punk (tombstone gets a little too close to the french electro punkers) infused retake on the time album by the electric light orchestra.
oh yes, the oft forgetten elo electro period.
time was a concept album about space travel and time, set to 80s synth pop soundtrack of the day and was probably the last time elo were relevant, and once this unexpected revelation hits home, you begin to hear that there are several other connecting factors with dystopia, the use of layered harmonious vocals (and even the use of the vocoder), the use of a story arc/theme across the spread of the album, and more importantly, genuinely good songs that work well as a complete uninterrupted listen.
favourite album of the year so far ?
yup - no doubt about it.
more detail : here