The Experimental Tropic Blues Band – Loverdose
If you ever felt desperate that nothing new happened on the music scene or you thought new releases seemed stale and predictable, do not worry, because The Experimental Tropic Blues Band arrived with “Loverdose,” a brand new full-length album that will definitely knock your socks off with an unpredictable, innovative, fresh, and unique sound. Now, you probably stumbled upon many artists and bands trying to reinvent the same old wheel by mimicking something the greats performed and recorded decades ago, or felt like particular music outlets overly experiment with their influences, not taking care of the consistency, cohesion, flow, dynamics, or ambiance. On “Loverdose,” everything seems carefully assembled and flawlessly performed, yet crazy and cheerful enough to entertain you to the max. Somehow, these folks have a tremendous knack for making catchy, memorable, engaging compositions where even the irrational sonic maneuvers, quirky melodies, and odd beats have more logic than some regular tracks you hear played on podcasts and radio shows every day. This has to do with tremendous experience, knowledge, skills, talent, and creativity, vividly hearable in the performance of each band member. These folks know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it with such precision and finesse, even when they’re joking around and throwing your listening apparatus in all possible directions. As soon as you press play, your attention and ears are at their disposal. You paid a ticket to this sonic rollercoaster, and there’s no turning back, but after these twelve compositions, you’ll realize you need to spin this experimental rock gem a couple of times more. That’s the power of experimental music, and The Experimental Tropic Blues Band is fully aware of their tremendous musical abilities.
Whenever you pick the entire album or take a listen to the particular songs, there’s no safe route here. You are immediately drawn into a whirlpool built upon strange but surprisingly addictive, hypnotic, and irresistible soundscapes. Wether they incorporate experimental or art rock fundamentals, lean towards much heavier post-hardcore and noise rock maneuvers, implement those catchy indie, synth, glitch, electronic music elements, or just let it all go by blending all these qualities, The Experimental Tropic Blues Band are entertaining you with their impressive musicianship, brilliant ideas, and tremendous ability to push all the possible boundaries of conventional or non-conventional music. Each composition carries a wholly different experience. This band throws incredible synth leads, themes, melodies, and harmonies, immensely supported by excellent riffs, perfectly blended into those synths. Still, you’ll notice how some tracks carry much calmer chord progressions, leaning towards straightforward indie music. On the other hand, the rhythmic structures are continuously levitating from straightforward breakbeat, glitch, or other electronic music genres to classic alternative, noise rock, post-hardcore, indie beats, breaks, fills, and other interesting patterns. Of course, there are also basslines, sometimes raw to the point of complete grittiness, sometimes entirely polished, that offer more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to these tracks. In most cases, all these orchestrations define the mood and ambiance of these songs.
Even when The Experimental Tropic Blues Band seems like they do not care about sonic direction and are entirely in it for the fun, there’s a tremendous dedication to the craft that’s impossible to ignore. There’s a sheer professionalism, experience, knowledge, creativity, skill, and talent involved here, distilled into tremendous ideas and marvelous orchestrations that immediately penetrate your ears and refuse to let go long after this album ends. There are many moments where particular vocal lines, leads, riffs, basslines, and rhythmic structures are so addictive that you’ll hum them for days. The Experimental Tropic Blues Band play on that card, and they do it quite well, even when they experiment with sonic directions too much. But, in experimental music, there’s no such thing as too much, so Loverdose arrives as a comprehensive collection that sounds even better with each listen. With each new spin, this album rewards with even more tiny details, nuances, accentuations, secret details, and other sonic delicacies. It’s also impossible to pick a favorite track, because this material carries so many impressive moments that work best together, listened to in full. Therefore, you should immediately head to your favorite streaming platform and check this experimental gem out. You won’t be disappointed. Quite the contrary, Loverdose might become your favorite album this year.
Anohni "Paradise" – 2017
… weiter geht's im Mini-Fred zum 
