Copy: Hair Guitar
Audio Dregs

There's nothing terribly complicated about Marius Libman's Copy material—fundamentally, the polished and jubilant Hair Guitar overflows with gleaming synthesizer melodies and crisp beat bounce—but that doesn't mean the ten-track album's not a thoroughly pleasurable ride. The Portland , Oregon resident throws electro, synth-pop, arcade melodies, handclaps, and tight dance beats into the air and what lands are squiggly swingers like “Assassinator” and gleaming sparklers like “Zipper Problems.” Libman's tracks are wholly and unapologetically synthetic, with drum machines and bass synths battling it out with squirrelly 8-bit melodies for supremacy, and, while that ensures that Hair Guitar exudes uniformity, it also means that those with an aversion to synthesizer music should probably listen elsewhere. (Of course, characterizing it as such isn't entirely accurate either as the album's strengths are as much rooted in its songs as its sounds.) Offsetting a funky bass sputter and skanky stomp with an endearingly melancholic middle section, “You See Around Maybe” is a definite highlight, while the sneaky hip-hop feel Libman works into the sweetly singing “Closet Face” sounds good too. Though he, surprisingly, cites Herbie Hancock, Fugazi, and Dr. Dre as three key influences, the music aligns itself stylistically more to artists like OMD, Solvent, and Giorgio Moroder.

July 2007