Been listening a lot lately to one of my dark horse favorites from last year, Calla
Televise, and kind of wondering what others think of this one. Really grew on me over time. So moody and dark, but at the same time kind of uplifting. I remember making a compilation last year called
Naked, If I Want To and I followed the very dark sounding "Customized" with one of the darkest songs ever from the Cure, "Prayers for Rain", and it worked well.
Anyway, just felt like saying a few words about it and also just did a quick Google and the review below popped up that I lifted the subject line from. I don't think most reviewers were quite as kind, but I really like it a lot
http://www.opuszine.com/music/review.html?reviewID=621
Playing out like the Jesus And Mary Chain on quaaludes, Calla's third full-length release is a dissonant, hypnotic masterpiece. On first listen, parts of "Televise" may strike you as being largely background fodder, but repeated listens reveal that the rolling melodies, squeals of dissonance, and Aurelio Valle's lazy, almost spoken vocals have burrowed their way deep into your subconscious.
This is music that speaks to the id, paranoia, modern isolation, and latent desire in an entirely different way than Radiohead's more recent work, but it's every bit as effective. Guitars chime and echo in a seemingly endless space buoyed up with rolling basslines, sparse drum work, and subtle touches of programming.
Though the late 80s/early 90s shoegazer influence is fairly obvious, Calla - much like Interpol, whom they've toured with - manage the difficult feat of transcending their sources, giving them a nod while creating something purely and truly their own out of a familiar mix of ingredients.
PS: Today's brew is BridgePort Bottle Conditioned India Pale Ale from Portland and it's yum yum
