Bachelorette
My Electric Family

By Eric Hill

Annabel Alpers obviously doesn't follow the software instructions that normally come with the "how to be a technology-driven solo artist" bundle. Rather than a few icy synth pads and dinky drum loops the New Zealander opts to layer wah pedal guitar and vintage analogue sequences under her warm, multi-tracked voice. Finally adding live drums to '80s-inspired structures, vocoders and arpeggiators, the illusion of having unearthed the missing link between Kraftwerk and Debbie Harry is convincing. But Alpers is more soldering siren than dance floor diva. After the misleading acoustic guitar/pedal steel/shuffling snare opener that sets up like a Jesse Sykes late nighter, the rest of the album settles straight into circuit city. The tech bytes are all over the bit maps as well. Some verge on early Luscious Jackson ("Mindwarp"), others deeply frozen Bananarama ("Her Rotating Head") and others have hints of Howard Jones-esque electro balladry ("Donkey"). It's a long, strange trip down memory bank lane. (Drag City)

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Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth
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Arietta - Migration
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
Bachelorette - My Electric Family
Ben Lee - The Rebirth of Venus
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Bricolage - Bricolage
Chester French - Love The Future
The Church - Untitled #23
City Center - City Center
Clues - Clues
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
The Curious Mystery - Rotting Slowly
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Doll - Inside the Dollhouse
Eels - Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
Ex Norwegian - Standby
Great Bloomers - Speak of Trouble
Great Northern - Remind Me Where The Light Is
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Hanne Hukkelberg - Blood From a Stone
Heat From A DeadStar - Seven Rays Of The Sun
The High Strung - Ode to the Inverse of the Dude
Hopewell - Good Good Desperation
HotKid - Someday Somehow
The Hundreds and Thousands - The Hundreds and Thousands
Ida Maria - Fortress ’Round My Heart
The Intelligence - Fake Surfers
Jack-O & the Tennessee Tearjerkers - The Disco Outlaw
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Jeffrey Novak - After The Ball
Jets Overhead - No Nations
Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - Dracula Boots
Lee Harvey Osmond - A Quiet Evil
The Lovely Feathers - Fantasy of the Lot
The Lovely Feathers - Fantasy of the Lot
The Lovely Sparrows - Bury the Cynics
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry
Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low
Matt Krefting - I Couldn’t Love You More
Maximo Park - Quicken the Heart
Most Serene Republic - …And the Ever Expanding Universe
The Novaks - Things Fall Apart
The Paint Movement - Our Eurythmy
Papa Roach - Metamorphosis
Paul “Snoflake” Taylor - Share It!
Pick a Piper - Pick a Piper
Pilot Speed - Wooden Bones
Polly Scattergood - Polly Scattergood
Pony Up! - Stay Gold
Rubies - Explode From the Center
Screen Vinyl Image - Interceptors
The Skeletones Four - Aaaaahhh!!!
The Soundcarriers - Harmonium
Sports - The Band
Still Life Still - Pastel
Still Life Still - Pastel
Thee Oh Sees - Help
Think About Life - Family
Tragically Hip - We Are the Same
Various Artists - Songs for Eric
Various Artists - Not Given Lightly: A Tribute to the Giant Golden Book of New Zealand’s Alternative Music Scene
Walk Off The Earth - My Rock
Wand - Hard Knox
The Warlocks - The Mirror Explodes
White Rabbits - It’s Frightening
The Wooden Birds - Magnolia
Wooden Shjips - Dos
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