Articles
Colleen
Take and Glen Porter

Albums
Aquarelle
Victor Bermon
Bogenschutzer
Boy in Static
Celer
Colleen
Copy
Damiak
Dan Deacon
Matthew Dear
Decomposure
Elegi
Brian Ellis
The Fields of Hay
Formication
The Fun Years
Guthrie & Budd
Tobias Hellkvist
J Dilla
Library Tapes
Maps
Maserati
Mokira
Ontayso
Morgan Packard
Glen Porter
Proem
Radical Fashion
Rain-cloud
Retina.IT
Run_Return
Ulrich Schnauss
Signalform + Tachikoma
Someone Else
Take
Jedediah White
Wiley
Wolf Eyes
Yard
Zelienople

Compilations / Mixes
Ellen Allien
Famous When Dead 5
A Private Shade of Green
Speicher 3
Telefon Tel Aviv

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
Apples & Milk
Canson / Styro2000
Chrom
Claro Intelecto
Dartriix
Death is Nothing to Fear 2
Deepchord : Echospace
Ditch
Easy Changes
Monsieur Black
Brian James
Koljah
Liviu Groza
mha
Andy Stott
Vektormusik

DVD
Packard / Ott

Copy: Hair Guitar
Audio Dregs

There's nothing terribly complicated about Marius Libman's Copy material—fundamentally, the polished and jubilant Hair Guitar overflows with gleaming synthesizer melodies and crisp beat bounce—but that doesn't mean the ten-track album's not a thoroughly pleasurable ride. The Portland , Oregon resident throws electro, synth-pop, arcade melodies, handclaps, and tight dance beats into the air and what lands are squiggly swingers like “Assassinator” and gleaming sparklers like “Zipper Problems.” Libman's tracks are wholly and unapologetically synthetic, with drum machines and bass synths battling it out with squirrelly 8-bit melodies for supremacy, and, while that ensures that Hair Guitar exudes uniformity, it also means that those with an aversion to synthesizer music should probably listen elsewhere. (Of course, characterizing it as such isn't entirely accurate either as the album's strengths are as much rooted in its songs as its sounds.) Offsetting a funky bass sputter and skanky stomp with an endearingly melancholic middle section, “You See Around Maybe” is a definite highlight, while the sneaky hip-hop feel Libman works into the sweetly singing “Closet Face” sounds good too. Though he, surprisingly, cites Herbie Hancock, Fugazi, and Dr. Dre as three key influences, the music aligns itself stylistically more to artists like OMD, Solvent, and Giorgio Moroder.

July 2007