"Provoke a frenzy in me my love, provoke a frenzy in me ..." - Devil's Trident Album : Dance Mother
Label: V2-COOPERATIVE / IAMSOUND
Web : http://www.myspace.com/telepathe
Rating : 9 / 10
Label: V2-COOPERATIVE / IAMSOUND
Web : http://www.myspace.com/telepathe
Rating : 9 / 10
2009 is just beginning, but we already have in our hands the first exceptional releases of the year and among them is Dance Mother, the debut album of Telepathe from Brooklyn. But let's take things from the start...
The band was formed in 2004 by Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais who previously played together in the prog-punk band Wikkid. The name of the group is inspired by a meeting with a woman who claimed that she could communicate with animals through telepathy and was chosen because, as they say, «playing music with people, especially when you improvise, is also its own communication». Three years ago, in February 2006, they released their first EP Farewell Forrest through the up and coming independent label The Social Registry (also home to Gang Gang Dance, the band responsible for one of the best albums of 2008, Saint Dymphna). Then, in June 2007, came the 12" Sinister Militia with two new tracks and two remixes by Tyler Pope of !!! and Drew Daniel of Matmos, making their atmospheric sonic experiments more friendly to the dance floor.
Telepathe - Live @ Bowery Ballroom, New York (24/4/2008)
As for 2008, I would like to single out three important events in the band's fledging career. First of all, of course, there's the fact that I had the opportunity to see them playing live in New York (supporting Foals in Bowery Ballroom) and I was so impressed that I decided to take it upon me to try and make them famous in Greece (at least to the readership of mix grill)! Of course, my decision was also influenced by the two other major events of the year for the band, the releases of two exceptional singles, Chrome's on it (Telepathe's most pop-friendly moment so far, with playfully melodic vocals and unusual, hip-hop influenced, beats) and Devil's trident (the Slits meet Kraftwerk in a haunted disco). These two excellent tracks and the information that the multi-talented Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio had undertaken production duties for their debut album, made Dance Mother one of the most anticipated releases of 2009.
Our expectations were completely fulfilled upon listening the album that has just been released in Europe. Ethereal, dark melodies that draw inspiration from both the trip-hop of Portishead as well as the gothic charm of Cocteau Twins, combine with experimental rhythms, inspired by New York's hip-hop radio stations, and repetitive trance-inducing tribal percussion. The electropop sounds of the early '80s intertwine with the feminist DIY punk aesthetics of the late '70s and the result is a unique, truly inventive sound - the sound of 2009!
If you belong to those who have included the albums of Portishead and TV On The Radio among their favorites for 2008, you will do well to seek out Telepathe's Dance Mother and I am sure that by the end of 2009 you will have a special place reserved for it, in your own "Best of" list for this year!
If you belong to those who have included the albums of Portishead and TV On The Radio among their favorites for 2008, you will do well to seek out Telepathe's Dance Mother and I am sure that by the end of 2009 you will have a special place reserved for it, in your own "Best of" list for this year!
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