art in advertising (Phantogram - Voices)

*written on tumblr earlier this year

Phantogram - Voices

Why you'll love it: high quality trip-hop
Why you'll hate it: disposable and safe

About this time last year, I came across the album Other, by a trip-sytnpop duo called Data Romance.  It was pretty cool.  Nothing amazing, but certainly the best boy/girl trip-sytnpop album I discovered in 2013.  History has seemed to repeat itself yet again in the form of Pantogram.

There is a distinct lack of Bjork like quality in Phantogram, that I enjoyed very much from Data Romance.  The songs are much more radio friendly.  The melodies are catchier, but the singing has much less personality and lyrical depth.  Disposability is Phantogram’s biggest weakness.  At least they make the fleeting moments in your consciousness enjoyable, with driving techno-pop beats, and the occasional glitched out trip-hop cadence.  Phantogram has this really cool way of adding small little touches that make it sound like they’re hacking their own songs.

So there you have it, the projected best boy/girl trip-sytnpop album of 2014.  Now I’ve set a precedence, and will probably have to do some research to dig up one in 2015.

----------------------
[END OF THE YEAR UPDATE] - This album kind of fell out of my playlist exactly as I expected it to.  As much as I love the sound, it's too commercially structured to really leave a strong impression.  I'd much prefer if someone made "crazy and dangerous" music with this kind of sound, but most just seem to do "sexy and cool".