Dept. of Copyright Infringment
Music Monday: Alaska In Winter
Nice hat.
After spending a semester making music in eastern Alaska, who wouldn’t seek out troubadour Zach Condon (of Beirut fame) and A Hack And A Hacksaw’s Heather Trost? With the appropriately-named Alaska in Winter, Brandon Bethancourt did just that, the end result being his first LP, “Dance Party In The Balkans.”
First of all: one of the best album titles of the year. Already, you half-expect stomping on old, dirty floorboards in some obscure Eastern European town with a troupe of traveling gypsies. Or is that just me? Either way, the imagery works. The album itself marries East(ern European) to West(ern European), combining the Balkan-influenced instrumentals with synths and vocoders. Lots and lots of vocoder. In fact, it can get a bit much; it’s like that damned Imogen Heap song infused itself with 80 percent of “Dance Party.” Unlike Imogen Heap, Bethancourt’s vocals are actually more delicate and more appropriate, especially when they’re in put in conjunction with very subtle piano and relatively unaltered (and currently unidentified) female vocals in “Horsey Horse.”
I think that most people would agree that the last track off of “Dance Party” is the best. Featuring a singing Zach Condon, it might sound a bit discrediting of Bethancourt’s abilities to call “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” the album’s best, but the combined use of Condon’s slightly-strained vocals with Bethancourt’s vocoder along with the instrumentation plays off well and makes it the richest of the tracks. Enjoy.
Featured Song: “Dance Party in the Balkans” by Alaska in Winter
Download: “Dance Party in the Balkans” by Alaska in Winter
Featured Song: “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” by Alaska in Winter
Download: “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” by Alaska in Winter
