Saturday 31 December 2016

My Favourite Albums of 2016: #3 SURVIVE - RR7349


As I’ve already suggested elsewhere in this end of year list, it’s been a hell of a good year for electronic instrumental albums that take inspiration from the past, be they soundtrack recordings or stand-alone works. It’s also been a very fine year for all things Stranger Things related. 

Taking bronze medal position on this end of year list comes RR7349 by SURVIVE. (The title is simply the album's catalogue number). On this record the Austin based four-piece paint with a palette of analogue electronic darkness that is unsettling, druggy, menacing and shiveringly stunning, showing that they’re far more than just ‘the two blokes who did the Stranger Things soundtrack with a couple of mates’. When I wrote about them earlier in the year I threw in comparisons with John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Goblin and I’d stand by all of those (adding in Jean Michel Jarre for additional reference). If you’re already familiar with Stranger Things then that’s a good starting point to come to this record, but this is far more complex, far more layered, far deeper than anything you’ll find in the music that you associate the names Eleven, Mike, Dustin and Caleb with. It is completely absorbing - from start to finish.

SURVIVE - Wardenclyffe

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