Telepathe, 'Dance Mother'

Release date: April 14, 2009
Record label: IAMSOUND
Official Web site: http://telepathemusic.com/

The buzz: “Dance Mother” must rank as one of 2009’s most hipster-approved releases. It’s the debut LP (following some EPs) from Brooklyn duo Telepathe, an electro-dance-art project courtesy Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais, both members of weirdo prog-punk band Wikkid. Did we mention TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek produced the album?

The verdict: Telepathe have progressed away from their initially more tribal/organic/electro-freak sound toward something approximating a mall-store-soundtrack sheen. Enlisting Sitek at the mixing board only edges them closer to Urban Outfitters overhead play. There seems to be a glut of acts that sound like this lately, slightly deconstructing Björk B-sides into fractured laptop beat-pop experiments. Still, “Dance Mother” has its merits: there’s a nicely constructed mood here—one that’s casually alluring, occasionally fun, vaguely sad, safely exotic and a bit sophisticated; you might think Telepathe were French.

Despite the album’s title, the closest the duo comes to a hook-y dance song is “Chrome‘s On It”—and that dance would surely be an odd one (like zombie robots doing art-damaged dubstep). The single “So Fine” seems dance-y, but isn’t in any common sense. A couple other tracks feature modestly driving beats, many more are underscored by airy sonic vistas, and all the songs are so otherwise spacious and spatial it’s hard to imagine them—minus remix treatments—catching the floor on fire. That said, this LP offers appealing bedroom/headphone-listening potential that should not be overlooked.

Did you know? The ladies of Telepathe claim to love, and take partial inspiration from, Southern hip-hop.

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