Soulo [EP]

Editorial Reviews
From URB Magazine
Since its inception in 1994 by Alan Avanessian, Plug Researchhas consistently staked out an electronic territory beyondgenre. Their Badlands have encouraged a musical cross-pollinationthat's bred weird plants like Danny Zelonky's quirky electro-glitchLow Res project, the horrific noise of Pthalocyanine and John Tejada'sdarker techno moments as Mr. Hazeltine. They've seemed to turn tolighter, more organic terra lately, as evidenced on the recentIntermission compilation and these two new full-lengths.

Soulo's Shawn King and Nate Flanigan might be art-school dropouts,but instead of the usual aesthetic disdain, they offer a willfulmixing of electro clarity, guitar noodling and a surprising sense ofbright-eyed pop sensibility. Soulo avoids empty gloss, however,venturing towards lazy synth melodies on "This Is the Same As ItAlways Was" and "Rubberbands," draping both with a Chicago guitar feelthat lingers throughout the album.

Safety Scissors' PartsWater is more in line with the itchy sensation of software-drivenlounge music, apt since Scissors' Matthew Curry programs for aliving. He repeatedly ventures into vocal territory, raising thecuriosity level of his unassuming beat patterns and distant infusionsof guitar strums and static noise. "Stormy Weather" feels like earlyNew Order thanks to Curry's vocal confusion and bleepy overtones, asentiment carried further by the disco-lite chugging of "7 Glasses aDay/7 Days a Week." Parts Water, like Soulo, feels likeits own category, affirming the mission of Plug Research to make musicwithout borders.

Heath K. Hignight

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Soulo [EP]

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