Dopamine＜Blue Marble Colored Vinyl＞

Danalogue and Betamax, respectively known as the synth player and drummer for apocalyptic psych-jazz cosmonauts the Comet Is Coming, began making raw electro-prog and spiritual funk as Soccer96 before they hooked up with saxophonist King Shabaka. The duos fourth album, Dopamine, blends science fiction with reality, focusing on the impact of technology and artificial intelligence while expressing a mixture of anticipation and trepidation about the future. Sequenced like a cinematic mini-epic, the album is introduced in a dramatic and sprawling yet enticing way, with grand, luminous synths and spaced-out yet intricate drumming. Psychic Mechanics melds shuffling drums and beatbox electro, with a deep, rumbling voice preceding the addition of a wobbly synth bassline. Vocalist Nuha Ruby Ra guests on the title track, a glorious doom trip that recalls the Flaming Lips at their most darkly hypnotic, namely Embryonic and The Terror. Entanglement is a reflective slow jam centered around the vocoderized murmur I was thinking of you when I wrote this song. Salami Rose Joe Louis is featured on Sitting on a Satellite, a space-age psych-pop gem that feels both calm and tense, but is still a much lighter, breezier mood than Use Music to Kill, the lumbering beast that follows. Perfect Dystopia is an all-too-appropriate title for a slow, heavy, arpeggio-laced track with dazzling synth solos that sounds like gazing at a red, bombed-out sunset and still finding beauty in just being alive. The album cools out a bit toward the end, but doesnt get soft or sleepy, as theres still a sense of urgency and curiosity to the duos meditative side. ~ Paul Simpson