 Various
Artists
"Galant Records: No More Hi-Fi" CD
Galant
Records
Genres: lo-fi, indie pop, indie rock
Mar 22 - 28 2004 |
No More Hi-Fi, a nice, big label sampler from the proudly lo-fi
Galant Records label, gets a recommendation from me. Indie pop
is a great genre, and Norway is without doubt one of its hotbeds - I can't see how anyone could pass on this tremendously
catchy, endlessly fun beast of a compilation. Despite some less
inspired moments, there are some really, really good tunes here.
Tom Cruise Control's "Wouldn't You Know" is pure,
carefree indie pop. I Is Lars' "She Cooks My
Dinner" sounds like a more hooky Strokes tune. Stereo
21's "No. 12" is amazingly pretty, melody-laden dream
pop, somewhat influenced by Belle & Sebastian. And
that's just within the first six songs. Other highlights come
courtesy of peppy popster Professor Pez, lo-fi hometaper Ahlsen,
and noise pop master Hotel Charme.
No More Hi-Fi is a terrific overview of the Norway indie pop
scene. Though some of the disc's later songs are a tad low on
hooky melody, there's still plenty to enjoy in these twenty tunes.
If you get the chance to buy this, don't pass it up.
87%
Fun Fact: The word 'galant' refers to
an particular style of music from the eighteenth century.
According to the Collins English Dictionary, the genre was "characterized
by homophony and elaborate ornamentation." Read into that
as you will.
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 20 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2003] |
