GELATIN KIDS c10SKY STADIUM / POTIONS split c40(Lillerne Tapes)

A really good, but dangerously short keyboard based downer pop tape by Gelatin Kids. Sometimes this kind of music works and sometimes it leaves me bored, but in this case it really works. I like the two songs with vocals on the A-side. They take a kind of Thurston-esque songwriting approach (misty, nostalgic, deadpan) but substitute the howling open tuned guitars for very "of the moment" Casio tones and beats. The instrumental on the B-side doesn't interest me as much, but based on the strength of the other two tracks, I would say this is definitely a winner. Please make more of these gelatinous children for me to consume.

This is the second time I've reviewed Sky Stadium's music and I just have to say, I'm not terribly moved by it. Same goes for the B-side of this split, which features music by another solo artist who goes by the name Potions. There are so many people making ambient synthesizer drone these days that I find it really hard to gush over one tape or another. There are some clear standout artists who perk up my ears for one reason or another (for the most recent example, check out the review right below this one), but I just can't find anything here to differentiate this from so many other tapes I receive. Maybe the problem is that I have to listen to too much of this kind of stuff? What we have here is very mellow, sometimes rhythmic and completely unoffensive, but to me it lacks any particularly unique aspects that would make me proclaim, "ah, the Sky Stadium sound" or "this must be Potions." I don't feel like I'm asking too much of an artist to show me at least just one little something new, and until that starts happening on a more regular basis, I'm probably not going to get behind about half of the keyboard based music I hear.

Just my $.02. You, on the other hand, might feel entirely different, and that my friends is why we are each separate humanoid entities.

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