LP

Discovery, whose name pays due respect to Daft Punk's inspirational 2001 disc, is a collaboration between Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles that sounds nothing like either group's music. Their first LP, entitled LP, is an experiment in electronic pop and auto-tune effects that shows the urgent necessity for the keyboardist and vocalist to develop their side project. When I first heard the album, I absolutely hated it. I thought the idea was sound, but the execution left a lot to be desired. After listening to it a few more times, though, I started to get hooked by each individual track, and now I love the album for exactly what it is: a cute, friendly, and fun romp through beeps, synths, and smoothed-over, half-human, half-machine crooning.

The first song I heard, "Osaka Loop Line," is now one of my favorite tracks, combining an abrupt, pounding bassline with a shimmering cascade of chime-like electronics. It's a perfect example of the off-kilter yet still excruciatingly catchy compositional approach found on each of the short album's 10 melodies. Another track that shows off the duo's finest is "So Insane," which takes one main chorus and turns it all over, starting out with a more danceable club tune (which incidentally borrows a line from "The Electric Slide") and slowing it down to form more of a romantic number, then repeating it all over again on the next chorus. Additionally, the increasingly featured artists Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors fame and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend both contribute to the album, though on separate tracks. Deradoorian plays an androgynous role when she sings both "I wanna be your boyfriend" and "I want a boyfriend" on the aptly-titled "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" while Koenig's voice is later overly distorted on "Carby." As for the rest of the vocals, both Rostam and Wes take turns and both have pretty decent voices, especially when enhanced by auto-tune and vocoding technology on tracks like opener "Orange Shirt" and "Swing Tree." The two also offer an interesting take on Michael Jackson's "I Want You Back," though I vastly prefer the original. Discovery's music has a very futuristic and hip feel, and I can sense that this album is going to get incredibly popular within the next few weeks, so watch for it. It deserves most of the praise.

Manners; Chunk Of Change

Passion Pit has been getting a lot of attention lately, and people have been likening them to groups like MGMT or even calling them "the next Animal Collective." While I wouldn't go that far (I'd actually never go that far), most of the attention is deserved: Passion Pit really knows how to make good music. Both the full-length debut Manners (set for release on May 19th) and last year's Valentines-gift-turned-widespread-EP Chunk Of Change contain some incredibly catchy pop melodies that are sure to please casual listeners and aficionados alike.

The comparison to MGMT is actually very accurate, as Manners is very similar to Oracular Spectacular in that it has a few stand-out tracks (like lead single "Moth's Wings" and "Eyes Like Candles") that are climbing the ranks of my favorite songs of all time, while the other tracks aren't nearly as good but are still pleasant to listen to. The vocal performance is also very similar in both groups, and Michael Angelakos' falsetto is just as endearing and distinctive as James Mercer's and Zach Rogue's. That being said, Manners is a much stronger album as a whole than Oracular Spectacular was. From "Kids"-esque opener "Make Light" to the retro-dance influences on "The Reeling" to the high-pitched vocoder distortion on "Sleepyhead," the tracks on this album all offer different facets of the band while at the same time fitting together in a logical way to make a cohesive pop album that dabbles in the electro genre.

The Chunk Of Change EP sounds quite different, evoking dance-punk acts like Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem on tracks like "Better Things" and soft electronic artists like Kelley Polar and Junior Boys on opener "I've Got Your Number." In case you didn't know the story, Angelakos recorded a few tracks for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day and once it circulated through his group of friends, it got so much attention that the group was signed and released the EP only a few months later. Anyway, all of the tracks on the EP, except maybe "Cuddle Fuddle," are heartwarming, genuine, and excellent ear candy, and when combining forces to form the sum of the parts they pretty much top the debut.

"Orphaned"

It's Christmas (on the East coast) and in the spirit of giving, I decided to share with you all a neat little tune that I just recently discovered. It's "Orphaned" by Max Tundra and it's awesome for two reasons: one because it's a lovely piece of the quirky electronic indie pop we've come to expect from Max and two, more importantly, because I think I know exactly how it was created.

One of our assignments in my electronic music class this past semester was to create a rhythm generator (like a simple drum machine) using Max/MSP software and then feed audio samples from other songs into the system to make a more interesting beat. Mine used 200 millisecond clips from two different songs, one by Dirty Projectors and another by Van Dyke Parks, and an interesting mix of vocals and percussion arose. "Orphaned" sounds just like this: Tundra's piece is based off of a few simple rhythms built with tiny clips of other sounds. I feel like the best songs are those that make you want to create your own music when you hear them, and this one makes me want to go back and play around with my drum machine again. Unfortunately, my free trial of Max/MSP just recently expired and I'll have to wait until I can purchase a student version. Lucky for me, though, I'll be able to pass the time just by listening to this song. It's a shame the rest of Parallax Error Beheads You somewhat falls short, but hey, I'll take what I can get.