Title: United States of Hate
Artist: The Basswood Dollies
Genre: Electro Pop
Release Date: 1st May 2008
Label: Electric Fantastic Sound
Introduction
From the hometown of good electronic pop music (Sweden) comes this duo too and the two members of the BASSWOOD DOLLIES are no newbies on musical territory. John for example is the singer of CAT.RAPES.DOG and Joel was working in the bands HYPE and RED LIGHT DISTRIKT. Now they present the first full length after the release of the two singles ‘On Radio On TV’, ‘Alt Jag Har’ and the EP ‘Emo Mental Breakdown’ in 2006.
Line-up
John Lindqwister - Lyrics, Vocals
Joel Lindqvist - Synths, Production
Website
http://www.basswooddollies.com/ / Http://www.myspace.com/basswooddollies
Track Review
01. Me in Universe (Universe in me) - 4:07
The album opener is a pretty calm one and starts with a short synth line before the slow beat comes in and a female voice is starting the chorus. The song really has nice melodies and it benefits a lot from the contrasting chorus, where the different voices collide and a firework of synths explodes.
02. Out or In - 4:10
Don’t like these slow-ish songs, then maybe this is the right one for you as it’s a definitive candidate for the clubs with a straight and driving drum line that will make you dance. The vocoder effect on the vocals in the chorus reminds me a lot of the one I once heard in a CHER song. Not really my cup of tea, but that doesn’t have any effect one the song, which is great.
03. We are our own Gods - 3:03
The whole sound of this song reminds me more of some industrial songs than of electro pop. The start is marked by some weird sounding noises and slowly builds up layer by layer. While John is performing the verses, his voice remains the only melodic element in that quite minimal arrangement until the explosive chorus brings up the urgently needed portion of melody and a catchy hook.
04. Polonium Panic - 4:13
Sound- wise it’s the probably most playful track even though it doesn’t appear like it right from the start. There’s just an analogue bass line and then John’s voice starts the chorus. The vocals have a light distortion effect on them. The parts between the string dominated choruses are full of nice sound-gadgets that are waiting to be noticed.
05. Seven Nation Army - 4:12
This song has been covered by so many bands from different genres that it’s hard to tell how many of them exist. Imagine it as an exact electronic conversion of that rock song. I love that analogue bass line at the beginning. Maybe it’s a real bass who knows and the vocals John delivers here are absolutely fantastic, dynamic and powerful just like it has to be.
Live video
06. Deva - 7:06
This is the longest track on the album and I think that is the problem here as it’s actually a good song but it would have been even better in a shorter version. The idea to give the individual elements more room to unfold isn’t bad at all but the outcome is too boring for me in that case.
07. Machinista - 3:56
The drum line at the beginning fools you a bit and as you’re expecting a different rhythm here but when the additional synths appear you get a mid-tempo club smasher par excellence. The nervous ticking synth line in the background is always a head of the actual rhythm and is quite irritating for the ears at first.
08. A Bore - 4:07
Very minimal and with few melodies this song comes along but it has the charm of a 80s pop tune. It starts with a fast-paced synth line and some multi-layered vocal parts. Some unexpected rhythmic change sand the great chorus round off the package.
09. One Greek Stone on an Aeroplane - 4:17
That song is another one of those danceable mid-tempo tracks. As experienced in some of the other songs before, this song gets along with minimal arrangement regarding the use of melody, but the drum section is an interesting thing. It proves the diversity and that they can go with more than one idea per song. While the drums stay rather straight during the verses, this rhythm changes in the chorus and turns into a staccato-esque structure.
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 8.5
Conclusion
You can’t deny that this album has charm. You have a charismatic and well-known voice which isn’t only capable of singing in a single pitch and someone who knows how to maltreat the synths in the right way. Usually this kind of minimal arrangement which appears a few times on the record isn’t my cup of tea. Normally I need much more melody. But sometimes too much melody isn’t necessary to get hooked by music as I surprisingly noticed ‘United States of Hate’ is - despite the pretty weak ‘Deva’ a real good album and I’d like to hear more of those two guys in the future.
{jos_sb_discuss:19}
Comments powered by CComment