Space Junk

Artist: Halasan Bazar
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Label: Crash Symbols


Is it summer already? No? Well, it feels as if summer's come early with Halasan Bazar's album Space Junk. Slap on some cans and let the humming organs, vintage guitar tones, and gentle harmonies sweep you off your feet. Halasan Bazar's take on the fuzzed-out west coast garage rock of the 1960's goes beyond a mere imitation of their influences.

The sunny acid-soaked Beatles-esque compositions on Space Junk are, for the most part, pleasant. Tracks like "You and I" wallow in the psychedelic mood that the group is so great at creating. LSD-laced vocals dominate the track for the most part but are accompanied by a circling instrumental. The song is a great example of what Halasan Bazar is going for on Space Junk. The entire album feels nostalgic, as if the band is trying to pull us back into the 1960's where we'll all just hang out for a while.

Lyrically the album is quite a different story. While the instrumentals are relaxed and friendly the lyrics are desperate at times. On "Live Without Love" Mr. Halasan instructs us to "Live without love, die without love." "Stay," other than sounding like a drug-riddled Route 66, is a grasp for a comforting presence, vocally crying "Won't you stay?"

"Stay" seems to be a prelude to "The Light of My Day," arguably the album's strongest song. Starting off quaint, frail, and fragile, the gentle acoustic guitar and hushed vocals quickly gain confidence. Here Halasan Bazar plays with a less psychedelic sound, going for something more at home and earnest. Eventually incorporating other instrumentation (including harmonica, which isn't seen anywhere else on the album) the song slowly builds itself to awesome proportions. At it's height, the vocals scream "Hold me close, say you'll stay. please hold me tight, then you'll stay. Oh, you light my day, keep me blind, lead the way." There's something amazingly uplifting but tragic in the juxtaposition between the desperate vocals and the awe-inspiring instrumental.

There are certainly moments of nostalgic brilliance on Space Junk, (namely "How Did We Get Here in the First Place" and "The Light of My Day"), but there are still a few gripes I have when listening to this album. Mr. Halasan's straining vocals are quite nice, but aren't for everyone and this may be an immediate turn-off for some. Some tracks rely on the same riff or main melody for too long. Without any new material or timbres, this gets quite stale.

Everything considered, Space Junk is an interesting listen. Definitely something I'd 'highly' recommend to certain people. In all seriousness, if you're looking for something to blast in your car on a road trip or just something feel good for this spring/summer pick up Space Junk, you won't regret it.

-Owen Bolas

Clubhouse Split

Artist: Emily Reo, Yohuna, Brown Bread and MoonLasso
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Label: Crash Symbols


Clubhouse Split is a four-way split between dream-pop artists Emily Reo, Yohuna, Brown Bread, and MoonLasso, each of whom contributes two songs. The songs aren't organized in any particular way, but the album flows well and there are no jarring transitions between tracks. At the same time, that's not to say that the songs are all so similar that they could be by the same artist. All four women take heavily from the usual dream-pop palette of shimmery synths and heavy reverb, yet each has a unique set of tools and preferences that are easy to pick up on.

Emily Reo's two tracks make use of glossy programmed drums and clean synths, with an underlying, nearly-hidden layer of psychedelic background noise. Her album opener, “Peach”, starts so clean that it's reminiscent of chiptune, and slowly comes more and more alive, until it's become a storm of satellite beeps and distorted synthesizer wails. Yohuna's warm, analog-sounding synths on “Creep Date” and “Westerlies” bring Boards of Canada to mind, while creating a free and shapeless feeling. On the former, it's ominous, but on the latter, it's comforting.

Clubhouse Split feels like a conversation between four people who've just met and immediately become good friends. While each person uses their two tracks to represent themselves as fully as possible, they take to each other so naturally that their similarities and differences shine equally.

-Alex D'Alfonso