textura

Albums
Actress
Ellen Allien
The Alps
Aniline
Anodyne
Tommy Babin's Benzene
Maya Beiser
Pier Bucci
Budd & Wright
Celer
Ceremony
Richard Chartier
Deceptikon
Deepchord & Echospace
Marcel Dettmann
Dirac
Efdemin
GéNIA
Guillaume & C. Dumonts
Hammock
Helvacioglu & Boysen
Richard A Ingram
Inhabitants
Marsen Jules
Akira Kosemura
Manual
Dom Mino'
Teruyuki Nobuchika
Nono/ Wakabayashi
Olan Mill
Originalljudet
Fabio Orsi
M.Ostermeier
Rene Hell
Jeffrey Roden
J. Rogers
Roll The Dice
Secret Cities
Soundpool

Compilations / Mixes
Main Control Board
SEED X: Part I - III

EPs
Alternative Networks Vol. 2
Aural Diptych Series # 1
Aural Diptych Series # 2
Celer
Deerhoof vs OneOne
Filterwolf
Incite/
Ketem
Kogumaza
Yann Novak
Poratz
Quiroga
Repeat Orchestra
Sepalcure
Sub Loam
v4w.enko
The Zeitgeist EP

DVD
Stephen Vitiello

Secret Cities: Pink Graffiti
Western Vinyl

Secret Cities' Pink Graffiti takes its inspiration from Brian Wilson and how his work provides a prism through which to view youthful things (that inspiration bolstered by a fateful meeting between the band and Wilson). But while the album includes a goodly share of baroque passages of the kind that so famously mark Pet Sounds and Smile (hear, for example, the spellbinding vocal polyphony coursing through the opening song “Pink City”), Pink Graffiti ultimately exudes a rollicking spirit and joyful abandon that points it more in the direction of Arcade Fire than The Beach Boys legend (especially audible during the passionate choruses of “Pink Graffiti pt. 2”).

On production grounds, the material often sounds like it's being heard through fog—a presentation style Secret Cities members Charlie Gokey, Marie Parker, and Alex Abnos presumably desired and that bolsters the music's trippy, psychedelic character. Regardless, it's the album's melodic dimension that distinguishes it most, from the catchy whistling theme that sweetens “Boyfriends” to the water-logged instrumental “Wander.” The album's high point comes eight tracks in when “Pink Graffiti pt. 1” bolts from the gate in a flood of radiant melodic hooks, breathy vocals, and thunderous tom-toms. Other standouts include the jubilant “Color,” which soars rambunctiously with an innocent spirit redolent of the ‘60s, and “The End,” a lullaby that brings the album to a wistful close. Strong too is “Slacker,” which, abetted by the violin playing of Haley Thiel, exudes exuberance and drama in equal measure. As captured on this forty-minute collection, the group's pop sounds raw, kaleidoscopic, and elemental yet is often powerfully affecting too.

June 2010