Alex Tedesco – Pretty Lies (2012)

Alex Tedesco is from Livonia, MI.  I had met him at the university that we had formerly attended and quickly became good friends. We had spoke and shared interest in creating our own music and he had shown me all of the projects he had been working on/involved in (The Toad Disco, Half-Pairof Trios, Hosts, etc). I was quite amazed at the many different genres that had inspired him to create music, especially since a lot of them had shown through and melded together within his own work. The intimate nature and soul-energy delicately tuned had always been a staple in the music that he has created.

What I will be sharing with you his is (part of his) newest masterpiece that has been in the making for quite some time now (up to three years). After many revisions, his work of art, “Pretty Lies”, is finally ready for sonic consumption and is begging for a label to pick it up. With intimate and carefully constructed pop methods combined with weird samples, beautiful noise melodies, and instrumentation layered intricately throughout this album, you shouldn’t be surprised if you are found humming a few melodies encased in this album after listening.

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Steve Hauschildt – Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky 2011)

Steve Hauschildt - Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky 2011)

After three years of having albums released through small run tape labels, kosmische revivalist Steve Hauschildt finally gets a proper release for his mind bending work.  Being one third of the Ohio zoned out giants, Emeralds, his solo work could be easily overlooked.  ”Tragedy & Geometry” is an album with focused energy on shorter compositions rather than the long form style of his earlier releases.

The aura of this album generates feelings of a mature nature, completely packed with lush synth zones and melancholic, meandering arpeggios.  The opening track, “Polyhymnia”, is a representation of just that.   The fourth track and one of my favorites on the album, “Already Replaced”, starts off with a delicate arpeggio quickly being met kindly by airy, melancholic undertones to give the intention that you or something else being replaced.  Shimmering, high toned synth calms that melancholic smoke by dancing a melody around it.  ”Music for Moiré pattern” is the only slow burner on the album clocking in at a comfortable 11 minutes and reminds me heavily of his work with Emeralds.  The quasi-distorted synth that comes in two thirds of the way through is reminiscent of Mark McGuire’s fret board magic and trails off for the rest of the track.  The last track, “Stare into Space”, brings everything full circle.  As the track hones in on friendly arpeggios again, it really smooths out into a suggestive soundscape relating to the closing of the album.

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Below is a mix of previews throughout the album in track number order.

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