Trash80
Hologram (8bitpeoples 037)

Ecstatic parallel-universe 80s dance music, as though Ace of Base had stormed our shores in 1983 instead of 1993. Dark and woozy synths bounce around over insistent club beats, with vocoder epiphanies and the occasional Kim Wilde-ish vocals of one "Jemgirl."

It's a thrilling little set, bravely calling upon a host of very uncool musical demons to produce something familiar, yet distinctly outside any of its evoked genres. Hard to tell what they were aiming for, but what they actually hit is like a 1995 remix of a 1986 Shannon album … making Trash80 either audaciously ahead of, or distastefully behind, their time.

But that's something for my brain to hash out. My ears love it.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Thomas Long-and-Strong