Ale Mania on Volar Records

Ale Mania came to me in a much appreciated shipment from Volar Records the other day. Ale Mania, according to the back liner notes, looks to be the work of two guys, Jeremy R, who penned the trippy, squiggle pattern owl on the cover sleeve and Andrew M. Both produced and composed the dancy, electronic, '70s-'90s era mashup single. 2 tracks from 2 dudes, which is always impressive on any level given the layers of instrumentation, all while going for this super pop sound which could easily be at home in the heydey of over the top pop in the '90s or '80s...to it's credit, it's pretty unspecific in it's synth and groove elements, they wouldn't give away any specific year this could have been created. That's the key for this kind of sound for me, when it can create an indie electronic sound that won't immediately be completely tied to a specific date and never age well.

'Lustfull Fistfull' on the A-Side has this geeky, staccato rhythm from something like Devo, a jerky, frantic, spaz beat, just hearing it makes you uptight, the muscles in your neck start seizing up. This is further punctuated by muted guitar downtrokes of chords that eventually gets into some pretty major solo jams at points. Vocally, it's taking a backseat to the dance direction of the track with Alan Vega style heavily echo'd lyrics. It's not so dependent on electronics though, it's grounded in all those rock and roll sounds that remind me of !!! or ILYBICD.

The B-Side, Vomitpig, is chiming synth melodied over another pounding bassline, always ultra clean and studio sounding....I keep checking if I have the right single? This has to be a little tounge in cheek, it's taking itself very seriously in execution, but there is a rawness that might hint at the fact this isn't a huge studio, they aren't wearing headbands under neon signs. They carrying a faithful torch for the new wave with some '70s funk or groove influences. I'm pretty sure no one mentions anything about a 'vomitpig' though and this that's sort of a cue this is some kid of nod at things unrelated to the thumping dance floor.

Both of these tracks are amazingly short, you can literally see you're in for a quick ride, given all the clear space at the end of both sides....the long run into the gutter. But they have a concise burst of groove to deliver and move on, you can't sleep on this one...they might be due for the 12" extended dub remix at some point, but they also aren't waiting around for you.

Check out these two at their bandcamp page.

DIE MYSPACE DIE!