Junior Pande - "Tape Two," and Ali Helnwein - "Strange Creations" (Spring Break Tapes)

Junior Pande's (otherwise known as Justin Peroff, drummer for Broken Social Scene) Tape Two is futurehead music. Vaguely hip-hop in repetitions, but mainly abstract electronic one-man band exploration in execution, this album is 22 minutes of collage whizz-whir and I dig it. The electronics take the listener over in a dsytopian way. I don't know how to feel about the experience of being assaulted by keyboards and beats and splattered samples. Junior Pande's music does, like Stuart Berman of Pitchfork wrote, allude to the Flaming Lips in the sense that the melodies and the almost "sci-fi" vibe of the music do point to the nexus of electronic pop and "electronica." The production is top notch...maybe this is the soundtrack to Thom Yorke's daydreams?

Strange Creations by composer Ali Helnwein is truly a fantastic surprise. Often, when I get put out by one too many noise cassettes, I think I've heard it all before. Then my ears are surprised with an unexpected review submission. Helnwein is a film and TV composer and his moody pieces on this album reflect a flair for the dramatic and understanding of narrative. "Whistling Past the Graveyard" is BEGGING for Tom Waits to throw his gravel scarred vocal chords on top and/or just sit behind the scene of some Tim Burton conceived claymation short film. From "Greed" to "Gluttony," Strange Creations is an album full of inventive arrangements and wonderful melodies. Turn tape over. Repeat.

Buy and Listen HERE.

Junior Pande "Tape One" cs (Spring Break Tapes)

  Junior Pande is a bedroom/random recording project from one Justin Peroff, drummer of Broken Social Scene.Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm rather pleased to tell you that it doesn't sound anything like Broken Social Scene.(Disclaimer: Not a dis.I absolutely love this band.)With his first release for Spring Break Tapes,(as well as their first release) Tape One, Peroff takes a fairly rewarding stab at minimal electronic skittering and tiny bedroom bumps.Side A plays on with more than a few similarities to the epic, yet minimal Tortoise, Mouse On Mars, and Remote Viewer albums everyone was obsessed with in the late nineties.Plenty of chirping synths, deep swelling bass lines, and a ton of open spaces to fill.The beats are in miniature and scattered all over the place, but also prominent and catchy enough to make you want to stick around.The last five minutes of this side are pure sonic bliss, with a stretch of deep, uplifting strings and woozy bursts of warm synth chords.
  Side B comes from a rather different place, with a few nods to introvert hip hop jams, wobbly electric guitar samples, and piles of 90's bedroom dance and microhouse nostalgia.This side's thicker, driving beats are just a tad more  present, and the machinery is beefed up with a bit more muscle.Some of these tracks are just begging for a solid remix or three.Altogether, Tape One plays on like a solid mix tape full of semi-obscure IDM and other minimal dance jams, and it's very easy on the ears.Peroff himself dubbed this a "beat ambient space junk tape", and it's actually pretty accurate.Hopefully we'll hear more from him sooner than later.
Spring Break.