Electric Balloon
Reviews
Graham Anderson
Reviewed 2014-03-14
Reviewed 2014-03-14
Ava Luna / Electric Balloon / Western Vinyl
Genre-less and era-less hybridized music of the urban West
Musicians who can pull it off create a Punnett square from the last 40 years of Western music. Vocals are grunted, yelled, and bleated while respecting R&B melodies and harmonies. Vox all show vulnerability and feel true. Guitars are twisted into indie math knots but downplayed as jazz-style comping. Song forms are thrown out in favor of self-contained experiments into genre-blending. Acoustic and electric, tonality and noise, male and female vox and endless talent.
RIYL: Seu Jorge, Lauren Hill, Futureheads, Dirty Projectors
1. 2:34 Futureheads-like angular guitar and syncopated bass with James Brown-style grunts and screams, and falsetto harmonies, jam session structure, bebop tenor sax makes an appearance
2. 3:01 R&B / hip-hop groove with playful female speak-singing over tweaked guitar comping, hollers
3. 4:38 *R&B male falsetto, indie guitar comping, 70's bell synth, tambourine and funk drums, stop-and-start song structure, a beautiful Frankenstein's monster of a track
4. 2:19 * Puttin-on-the-Ritz style tom solo intro -- hand slapped toms? Transitions to acoustic Latin-jazz guitar and space noise-backed plaintive male soul falsetto
5. 4:31 FCC at 2:30 70’s rock/funk beat with cowbell and 2-bar bass line, James Brown / Curtis Mayfield hybridized male grunting falsetto vox, transitions to a grunge-influenced version of a stadium-rock slow-rocker, with two distinct sections. Three songs in one schizo experiment
6. 2:59 *Sparse and angular math rock with naked female Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-esque vox
7. 3:48 *R&B female vox with vibraphone keys over shaker and metallic garbage noise
8. 4:07 * Hip-hop beat, Mayfield falsetto vox with neo-soul tendency, indie guitar riffs, Motown-inspired backup singing
9. 4:14 * Dissonant guitar drone, Mayfield vox, electronic rock crescendos, transitioning to a noise climax and drum & strum outro
10. 3:34 ** Sparse funk drum kit, neo-soul glissando vox harmonies, dissonant indie guitar comp, sax noise drone
11. 4:10 Polyrhythmic train-whistle vibraphone contrasts with punk-influenced up tempo rock track that slows to a psych-rock drone, followed by angular guitar twang and, why not? a return of the OCD vibraphone train. This song just got me high.
Graham Anderson
Genre-less and era-less hybridized music of the urban West
Musicians who can pull it off create a Punnett square from the last 40 years of Western music. Vocals are grunted, yelled, and bleated while respecting R&B melodies and harmonies. Vox all show vulnerability and feel true. Guitars are twisted into indie math knots but downplayed as jazz-style comping. Song forms are thrown out in favor of self-contained experiments into genre-blending. Acoustic and electric, tonality and noise, male and female vox and endless talent.
RIYL: Seu Jorge, Lauren Hill, Futureheads, Dirty Projectors
1. 2:34 Futureheads-like angular guitar and syncopated bass with James Brown-style grunts and screams, and falsetto harmonies, jam session structure, bebop tenor sax makes an appearance
2. 3:01 R&B / hip-hop groove with playful female speak-singing over tweaked guitar comping, hollers
3. 4:38 *R&B male falsetto, indie guitar comping, 70's bell synth, tambourine and funk drums, stop-and-start song structure, a beautiful Frankenstein's monster of a track
4. 2:19 * Puttin-on-the-Ritz style tom solo intro -- hand slapped toms? Transitions to acoustic Latin-jazz guitar and space noise-backed plaintive male soul falsetto
5. 4:31 FCC at 2:30 70’s rock/funk beat with cowbell and 2-bar bass line, James Brown / Curtis Mayfield hybridized male grunting falsetto vox, transitions to a grunge-influenced version of a stadium-rock slow-rocker, with two distinct sections. Three songs in one schizo experiment
6. 2:59 *Sparse and angular math rock with naked female Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-esque vox
7. 3:48 *R&B female vox with vibraphone keys over shaker and metallic garbage noise
8. 4:07 * Hip-hop beat, Mayfield falsetto vox with neo-soul tendency, indie guitar riffs, Motown-inspired backup singing
9. 4:14 * Dissonant guitar drone, Mayfield vox, electronic rock crescendos, transitioning to a noise climax and drum & strum outro
10. 3:34 ** Sparse funk drum kit, neo-soul glissando vox harmonies, dissonant indie guitar comp, sax noise drone
11. 4:10 Polyrhythmic train-whistle vibraphone contrasts with punk-influenced up tempo rock track that slows to a psych-rock drone, followed by angular guitar twang and, why not? a return of the OCD vibraphone train. This song just got me high.
Graham Anderson
Recent airplay
Aquarium
Down the Rabbit Hole (rebroadcast from Apr 12, 2014) — Apr 15, 2022
Crown
Sound Landscapes — Feb 18, 2018
Plain Speech
day tapes #2 — Jul 19, 2017
Daydream
A Visit From Drum (Sleep Dealer) — Oct 23, 2015
Daydream
A Visit From Drum — Mar 05, 2015
Crown
Box of Chocolates — Sep 20, 2014
Charting
2014-03-14 — 2014-05-16
| Week Ending | Airplays |
|---|---|
| May 18 | 4 |
| May 11 | 3 |
| May 4 | 2 |
| Apr 27 | 1 |
| Apr 20 | 6 |
| Apr 13 | 6 |
| Apr 6 | 3 |
| Mar 30 | 1 |
Track listing
| 1. | Daydream | ||
| 2. | Sears Roebuck M&Ms | ||
| 3. | Crown | ||
| 4. | Aquarium | ||
| 5. | Plain Speech | ||
| 6. | Electric Balloon | ||
| 7. | Prpl | ||
| 8. | Hold U | ||
| 9. | Judy | ||
| 10. | Genesee | ||
| 11. | Ab Ovo |