Thought Bubble - Around

Dirty Filthy Records

Around by Thought Bubble (UK) fits in fine to the rather varied although eccentric style of Dirty Filthy Records. They play experimental, improvised electronic music in an interesting and unique way. This is their first album following a few digital only singles and one EP. Thought Bubble is a duo project of Chris Cordwell & Nick Raybould mixing together synths and live drums. Some of you might remember them from the band Glowpeople. Their recordings also feature guest musicians, this time Suzette (voice on "The Waves" and "Beatwave"), Pablo Raybould (voice on "Möbius Trip"), Shaun Bailey (guitar and loops on "Möbius Trip" and "Devoider") and Gregg McKella (clarinet on "Fluctuate") who give the music more colour in a nice way.

 

The rather short album includes six, almost instrumental tracks. The opener, "The Waves" has a strange, bit oriental vibe and lots of psychedelic sound effects. This track is also included on the latest Fruits de Mer freebie CD Music For Amphibians, very nice! "Beatwave" has a sort of motorik beat and futuristic, hypnotic atmosphere. Maybe my favourite! "Möbius Trip" has cool narration, great lead guitar work and a weird feel to it. Quite trippy! "Rat Race" is a shorter, faster experimental piece and like ther rest of the album, has a rather modern sound. Next is the longest track of the album called "Fluctuate" and it has a nice cinematic vibe due to the addition of clarinet and string sounds. I like it a lot. The last track "Devoider" is the slowest one and has a quite strange atmosphere getting closer to ambient music before speeding up towards the end. All in all, this is an interesting album and I got to say I have not heard anything quite like it before, although some of it brings to mind 80s King Crimson and some of the solo works of Brian Eno. Out on LP, CD and digital.

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