IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS... OR DOES IT?

General Elektriks: Raid The Radio
From Good City For Dreamers (Quannum, 2009)

Categorization can be such a bitch. Some artists just don't fit any particular mold. Not that I'm complaining or that it's a bad thing, but for those who like some semblance of organization, I'll just call this one Alternative. Not alternative in the sense of Nirvana or Green Day, but alternative in the sense of it's not quite any one thing in particular. Your local FYE calls it Dance. The press release says he toys between hip hop and pop, and I guess that's true to some extent. True to the site's mission, though, good music is good music, and we're here to present it to you.

The video for the second single from the recently released “Good City For Dreamers” has some '80s synths that lay a nice bed for the verses to fall into. The hook is quite catchy in both its lyrics and melody but also with that whistle. The nod to The Meters “Handclapping Song” leading up to the hook is unmistakable, and the whole thing is tinged slightly with a funky feel.

The album is filled with the aforementioned synths and also with abounding moods. There's a creepy loneliness that permeates in “Cottons Of Inertia” that is aided by the quivering vocals and the teaming of the piano and strings. The only thing that is missing is the sound of creaky floorboards and a dripping faucet. “David Lynch Moments” sounds like a cross between “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics updated to the '00s and a clubby, industrial back rhythm.

On “You Don't Listen,” you can just picture GE playing an air-synth as he uses effects to freak it into a screaming rock guitar. Then there's the oddly-placed opening timpani (that work much better when incorporated later in the song as a complement) on “Helicopter” that also use synths that sound like guitars before letting the children take over with their ode to whirlybirds - “I fly like a helicopter.”

Like a helicopter, the album soars high and the songs are the blades that make you dizzy with joy while they keep spinning.