Shado Electro

This compilation, from a prominent Italian electro label, covers 25 years
of “future synthetic electronic rock.” The older tracks are by husband-and-wife
duo Krisma themselves, from the early days of electro; the newer songs don’t
sound much updated from Krisma’s time. Overall most of the tracks sound pretty similar to one another and without
a great amount of intrasong variety either. The vocals all tend to sound like
they’re being sung through a glass bottle. Apparently clean. Standouts: 1, 7, 14

1. Fast paced with androgynous European female vox, which reminded me at
first of Bjork. Sounds like a ‘60s-retro Eurovision Song Contest entry with a
techno beat. Good airplay choice.

2. A little darker and more recent. Echoey, mysterious vocals giving way
to odd disjointed instrumental breaks here and there.

3. Cute, tinny noodling very evocative of Kraftwerk’s “Computer World”
period, but with less stilted vocals – more breathy singsong style.

4. Vox like Macy Gray, with an uneventful synth backup, as though
Pine*Am took a sample off of New Order’s Roland 808 and forgot that it was
meant to be only one layer of the song. Unpolished murmury vocals.

5. Another Krisma contribution, very spare and clunking. Violin in the
background hints at lingering funk/disco inspiration.

6. Death Guild meets the climactic skit scene in “Revenge of the Nerds.”
If Lords of Acid ever took downers, this might be the result, but with less
naughty lyrics.

7. Bouncy synth with breathy little girl vocals. Capitalizes on the old
trick of making a melody by playing the same note in different octaves (see Men
Without Hats). Still, it’s cute enough that I’d play it.

8. A bit different, darker, with slowed-down vocals to make it weird.
Would make a good bed. A little bit hip-hop.

9. See track 7 re: how to make a melody. Bouncy but still half-asleep.

10. Krisma again! Choppier vox this time, not so much ABBA as Kraftwerk.

11. More of a mainstream sound, easy to grok with a cute analog bridge,
with simple, repeating lyrics.


12. Krisma yet again! This harkens back to track 1 in terms of sounding
like some goofy music from the original “Batman” TV show. Likeable. Kind of
Klaus Nomi.

13. Again with the dark sound and echoey vocals. There’s some very faint
guitar in the background to spice things up a bit. Not bad.

14. With a name like “The Electronic Tomato,” you might guess that this was
a Japanese artist with a girl singing, and you’d be right. Very boppy and cute.

15. Very minimal. Find a synth line you like. Let it run. For the entire
song. Don’t bother singing much, it interferes with the groove.

16. Guess who? Kind of hypnotic, with use of distorted, sireny guitar, for
a sort of spare postpunk sound.

17. Krisma double shot! Call and response between the two singers. Very
goofy melody and singing – the chorus consists of gasps of “Oh my lover!”
Definite cheese value.

18. With heavier beats, this one would be swinging. As it is, let’s call it
restrained.

--riana