Ford and Lopatin- Channel Pressure (Software Records- 2011)
~by Gabe McBride
93_______________________
I look at that score, and wonder if I can possibly be serious, but then I listen to the record again, and I know I’m right. It’s hard to hold back my gushing and giddiness over Channel Pressure, the debut full-length from the band formerly known as ‘Games’, comprised of Daniel Lopatin, who also performs as ambient synth/ drone act, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Joel Ford, of new wave disco-pop aficionados Tigercity. So Ford and Lopatin do draw something of a midpoint between the two bandmembers regular gigs, driving an experimental, digitized spike through the heart of early 80’s europop and r&b inflected dance tunes, creating a forward-thinking retro amalgam of keytarism, Apple IIe blips, skanky hairband guitar riffs, and groggy but sharp-cornered atmospherics.
Now, as I’ve said before, I am an electro novice, and I am not going to try and debate whether the album is ironic or whatever, but where Channel Pressure wins me over so easily, is in its seams-bursting pop insistence, that straddles the line between being overwrought and concise. Not that Ford and Lopatin are holding much back here. The tunes have an “everything and the kitchen sink” feel throughout Channel Pressure, without losing focus or feeling sloppy. The record is first and foremost, a rethinking of 80’s pop, taken apart and reconstructed like a Rubik’s Cube that couldn’t be solved, but is then turned into a work of art, no longer corny or anachronistic. It’s music I kinda hated back when it was popular, revamped into something not only digestible, but desirable, and HIGHLY danceable, especially if your hair is properly crimped.
For Fans of: Com Truise, Bobby Brown
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