Radiation City
Synesthetica
Radiation City has always had a retro feel to their songs, but I've always associated it with an early-60's life that's so perfect it's ironically disconcerting. Kind of like that movie Pleasantville when everybody else is in color except for a select few progressive rebels. In my head, Radiation City is in color and everybody is in black and white. Their songs, subtly lo-fi, sounded like they were being performed on the other side of a thin curtain made of frosted vellum. Blurry silhouettes and all.
BUT on the new album, Synesthetica, that vellum curtain has been lifted and everybody is in color. Their sound overall is a little brighter, a little poppier, a little clearer, and a little more expansive. On a handful of tracks their sound even feels like it has progressed into the 70's
Like on the first track, 'Oil Show', I immediately get an incredible urge to lace up my roller skates and daydream that I'm following the reflection of a disco ball panel around the rink. The song and my high wasted jeans, which are giving off the illusion that my legs take up 2/3 of my body and as a result hide my freakishly long torso, are giving me a strange confidence. All of the sudden I can use my god given coordination to move my hips in sync with my shoulders while skating by all the ladies on the opposite side of the divider wall who drop their ice cream cones on the floor in pure swoon.
While I still prefer the vellum in front of Radiation City, I dig the experimentation and progression of their sound. My favorite song on the album is 'Butter' because it incorporates the best of both worlds: the dark dreaminess of the previous albums I fell in love with and the sharper production of Synesthetica. Holy fucking smooth bass groove sliding down the back of an oiled up platypus this track is on point! The synth is so damn rich I almost mistook it for a strings section playing from a worn out film reel and the vocals had me so moist I was stuffing gauze pads in my pants. This is a prime example of why I love Radiation City.
Synesthetica came out last week and is ready for your listening pleasure. Go check it out; there is no reason not to because it's streaming on YouTube via Polyvinyl. And then buy it.
Pssst, 'Butter' starts at 8.42.