West Coast

Having quietly made their initial splash with the Yearbook 1 collection (helped by generous MP3 sharing of same, along with related singles), Studio re-released most of it (subtracting "No Comply" and "Radio Edit") to create West Coast, which sent the simmering buzz about the group into overdrive. Little wonder why -- while perfectly in sync with any number of European acts playing around with a restrained, crisp energy to their techno (it's no surprise someone like Prins Thomas was an early booster), the duo of Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hagg brings not only a sheen of '80s electronics but that decade's art-inclined rock & roll. The Cure in particular have a huge influence by the duo's own admission -- one commentator's description of West Coast sounding as if Seventeen Seconds had been recorded in Nassau rather than London is as perfect a summation as any. Part of it is certainly due to the occasional lost and forlorn vocals, but the plunging bass and sharp guitar have a lot to do with it too, as the majestic 16-minute opener, "Out There," makes perfectly clear, while the polyrhythms on "West Side" and steel drum break on "Self Service" are more than Lol Tolhurst could have ever come up with on his own. This said, Studio are far from a one-trick pony, and the six cuts on West Coast more often than not deftly suggest numerous syntheses and new approaches to old styles rather than direct cloning -- almost as if a previous decade's sonic elements had been liberated from the songwriting context of their time and reassembled in new ways. Shimmering synths turn into astringent yowls coasting above the beats, dub echo hits the kind of romantic swoop suggesting Anne Dudley's strings for Wham!'s "Careless Whisper," while the concluding "Indo" dispenses with overt beats entirely for a liquid flow of guitar and synth tones and rhythms. ~ Ned Raggett