Review: Ask For Joy - Life In A Coma

Ask For Joy - Life In A Coma
2009, Infinitely Recursive Records

Aaron Rossetto is the one-man-band behind Austin, Texas' Ask For Joy, making ambient Pop in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized and even The Cocteau Twins. Rossetto started with a four track recorder as his high school graduation present and has since put out three EPs. The latest, 2009's Life In A Coma features some of his most accessible compositions to date, wrapped around the poetry of Sara Teasdale.

Life In A Come opens with Here She Comes, a gentle Pop/Rock tune that's inoffensive but is steeped in way too much reverb to sound right. Listening to the song is like listening to a band playing from deep inside a building; the sound is so muffled it becomes difficult to enjoy. Aaron Rossetto's vocal lines become partially lost in the ambient sound. The same thing happens on Summercrush, a meandering tune that suffers from lack of energy. My Deepest Ocean finds Ask For Joy coming out its shell and opening up its sound more than the highly produced moments of ambience that have come thus far. Pull My String returns, however, to the somnolent playground Rossetto seems to prefer. The Sacrifice and Glory Glory follow in much the same path, although Glory, Glory does get very slightly more energetic.

Life In A Coma may be appropriately titled after all. The album is so slow and drawn out it's hard to follow. Add to this production levels that practically envelope the vocal line in instrumentation and the end result is a tough listen. Fans of ambient and shoegaze rock may take to Ask For Joy quite well, however.

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Ask For Joy at http://www.askforjoy.com/. You can purchase Life In A Coma as either a CD or download at CDBaby.com.

Review: MFMB - MFMB

MFMB - MFMB
2009, La Bulle Sonore Records

Hailing from Bollnas, Sweden, MFMB mixes acoustic and electronic elements to create a sound that runs somewhere between Daft Punk, Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure. Their debut EP, MFMB culls elements of each and crafts them into a dynamic if somewhat wandering musical experience.

MFMB opens with Anthill Man; a lyrically confuddling but ultimately danceable bit of electro-rock that sounds a bit like something that Dieter might dance to on the old Saturday Night Live sketch Sprockets. It's a pleasant tune; just don't expect a lot of sense on the lyrical side. Control gets a bit more electric guitar involved in the mix, blending hard rock and house styles quite well, actually. The song does get repetitive in both structure and lyrics, but is very listenable and highly danceable. The Fine Detail I had a hard time getting into, but MFMB stormed right back with Tune On, a jaunty bit of EuroPop dance music that will likely have some real legs on the club scene. I Would Give It To Anyone is a languorous pop tune that is certain to inspire somnolence in listeners, but MFMB rebounds once again on the closing track, Heat Like This, with a Pop/Dance tune that seems inspired by the work of The Cure.

MFMB strikes me as a band whose output is generally aimed at the Club scene. The sound is probably more generally marketable in Europe than in Middle America, but MFMB should be able to make big inroads in places like New York and L.A. There's a distinct melancholia that hangs over MFMB, creating a bit of cognitive dissonance with the trend of moderate tempo dance tunes, but MFMB generally makes it work. Not a bad start.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about MFMB at http://www.thisismfmb.com/ or www.myspace.com/thisismfmb, where you can purchase a copy of MFMB directly from the band.