Tacoma Mockingbird [LP]

Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A]nthemic yet winsome synth riffs which summon up nostalgia for the innocence of early '90s rave tunes..."

West Coast IDM master Eliot Lipp's second full-length is downright minimalist in its focus: Tacoma Mockingbird was deliberately built on beats that are familiar almost to the point of being cliched, which are overlaid with '80s-vintage synth lines. There's not much else to be heard in these 13 songs, yet somehow, nothing is missed. The retro feel of songs like "Rap Tight" is akin to what happened when the first generation of U.K. post-punk bands fell upon sequencers. Those who remember the indie-dance 12"s on labels like Factory Benelux and Rough Trade that came in the wake of New Order's "Blue Monday" will find the simple melodies and straightforward electronic beats of Tacoma Mockingbird appealingly familiar, from the pitch-wheel playfulness and shuffling beat of the opening "Glasspipe" to the herky-jerky white-boy funk of "Sex Tape," which sounds oddly like a lost Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark B-side. The concept is so simple that it seems too easy, but Tacoma Mockingbird is bracing, endlessly listenable dance-pop. ~ Stewart Mason