a r t i s t : Rangers
t i t l e : Suburban Tours
d a t e : 2010
l a b e l : OESB
c a t : OESB#42
s o u r c e : Vinyl
g e n r e : Psychedelic/Retro
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2010
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 65,8 MB
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"Rangers is drawing from an entirely different set of musical
influences than the rest of his peers - combining a passion
for Manchester's Northern Soul sound with early 80's rock
radio staples like Rush and The Police and the 70's
prog-fusion of Weather Report. Plus he's got the chops to pull
off this unlikely union -- in fact the cutting engineer for
"Suburban Tours" was utterly baffled and commented that it
sounded to him like a lost Steely Dan session recorded onto a
mangled microcassette tape. That's a good thing, right?"
Massive full-length from Joe Knight aka Rangers who had a
previous cassette on Not Not Fun. Heard this described as
æmirrorball funknagogic popÆ and yeah, itÆs fully mainlined
H-Pop that expands on the Ariel Pink/James Ferraro blueprint
by importing massive bass riffs (that at points sound like
PiL), screwed and chopped production styles and fully
structured songs that confuse DIY prog with 1980s pop. Think
of the more guitar-focussed 80s skateboard vid soundtracks of
Lamborghini Crystal cut with an Eighties frontman beaming
vocals straight from late-night MTV. The whole album has a
Roxy Music-bootleg vibe, a fuzzy mirror onto an alien pop
music with cold, dreamy synths and monster bass. Suburban
Tours is a collection of pop songs that take the raw material
of KnightÆs extended collage-based cassettes and turns them
into classic psychedelic instants. All the tracks were
recorded after Knight relocated to San Francisco from the
suburbs of Dallas, Texas and thereÆs something melancholy in
his evocation of 80s/90s teenage USA cut up with a confused
love/hate for what he calls suburbiaÆs ôfailed connections
with natureö û fake lighting, golf courses, air conditioning,
gated communities... Todd Ledford describes it well when he
says: ôBut despite the loneliness and melancholic themes there
is a remarkable amount of color to his music. Like it's the
sound of what he'd want to have playing on his headphones
while riding a bike thru these neighbourhoods -- the sound
necessary to make these places seem lively and fun.ö Either
way this is a major Hypnagogic statement. Full-colour
pro-printed sleeves with MP3 download. Highly recommended.
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01-Deerfield [04:30]
02-Golden Triangles [02:42]
03-Bear Creek [03:31]
04-Brook Meadows [03:23]
05-Glen Carin [03:47]
06-Out Past Curfew [03:38]
07-Woodland Hills [04:11]
08-Ross Downs [04:05]
09-Bel Air [04:01]
10-Dome City [02:04]
11-Airport Lights [03:19]
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39:11 min