Tuesday, August 07, 2007

unbelievable

There's a new video up on YouTube for my favorite Trance act, Techno Squirrels, and it took my breath away. Not only is the new track fantastic, but the video is absolutely stunning. From LA's Union Station to Utah's Arches National Park, from the Tokyo subway to the Central Valley's wind farms, the video for "Unbelievable" is a time lapse tour of the world tying together the kinetic rhythms of urban life with the macro level changes of nature that only make themselves obvious through time lapse.

Techno Squirrels - "Unbelievable"


What I love most about Techno Squirrels is that they don't overstay their welcome. Their writing, production, and performances are top-notch; but beyond that they manage to dodge the grand conceit of Trance that assumes I want to listen to someone slowly develop an idea over 9 minutes every time I listen to a song. Techno Squirrels take a tight, solid, and succinct approach to their songwriting and it really serves them well.

There's something in their work that's reminiscent of Madonna's "Ray of Light" album (my favorite work of hers), but without all of the self-centered, "I am my own universe" lyric writing that Madonna's work has turned into over the last 10 years. There's also some noticeable Bjork influence, but without the inaccessibly dissonant insanity and idiosyncratic, yet unfocused melodies. Essentially, Techno Squirrels manage to be move beyond Trance in its strictest definitions and instead blend it with a bedrock of finely-tuned songwriting craft that instantly draws me in with each new track I hear.

Anyway, check out the video as well as the new album when it comes out Aug. 21.

4 comments:

EmoRiot said...

I submitted to Digg. It wouldn't let me submit your blog url, though. I had to take the youtube url directly.

But thanks for the nice words.

Now everyone go out and Digg the video so we make the front page!!

http://digg.com/videos/music/Timelapse_Video_From_Around_the_World_Unbelievable

EmoRiot said...

"Logic-pro using?"

Does something in that song give us away?

Bug said...

Um. No. You use Logic Pro, right?

I was going to say Reason using, but then I worried that you'd feel like I was minimizing your sampler knowledge.

I can't win.

EmoRiot said...

No, yeah we use logic. I was just wondering if there was some sound we used that was from a preset or something that stuck out as "here's the Logic Pro moment." Just wondering, that's all. No win/lose.

Thanks for the comment and digg.