Salem

King Night

IamSound/Sony

In terms of boundary pushing, mind warping electronica it doesn’t get any further away from mainstream than this. This bunch of beat loving whizz kids from Michigan manage to create a vast array of sounds and tunes with riffs and samples overlapping, weaving in and out, so fiercely it’s sometimes hard to know what’s going on. Tracks like “Asla” have an epic quality about them though, with a repeated riff running over various distorted drumbeats. “Frost” has vocals reminiscent of Lush or My Bloody Valentine, dreamlike and surreal over those harsh electrondrum samples. Like Aphex Twin running off into the woods with Animal Collective for a mad freakout, there’s experimental electronica in each track, but always with some form of melody at its heartbeat. “Release DaBoar” has wailing guitars heralding in the electronic drums and epic synth pads, it’s all very cinematic and would probably make a decent film score someday, albeit to a surrealist horror film, probably to be shown atsome pretentious film fest, where chin strokers muse over the meaning of it all. With music like this, there it isn’t meant to be pondered over, it’s just a load of bizarre, mind-melting sounds, wrapped together in a hazy goo for our entertainment. It takes a few listens to get your ears around the strange otherworldly sounds Salem create, but once you delve into their world, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

Paula Gregory