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(Older reviews archived alphabetically by artist name.)

         
       
         
 
Recording:
  8Bit  
 
Artist:
  Alison's Halo  
 
Label:
  (self-released)  
 
Release Date:
  8.January.2001  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

Alison's Halo emerged out of the "Beautiful Noise" shoegazer scene in Arizona in the early 90's. In 1997 they released one of the best shoegazer albums i have ever heard, Eyedazzler. Then the husband and wife singer/guitar team moved to Chicago and started doing indie rock in the band Insta.

The 8Bit EP gathers together some instrumental snippets that Alison's Halo recorded over the years (1993 to 2001, if you believe the liner notes) and presents them to the public for the first time. This CD is available only through the Alison's Halo website.

I am such a collector geek that i ordered it from them. I was, in all honesty, expecting something along the lines of Eyedazzler. I guess i never noticed the bit of text on the website which mentions that this is an instrumental EP...

And that's a problem. What makes Eyedazzler so brilliant is that it combines Catherine Cooper's high-pitched "tiny girl" voice with really luscious walls of sound, all to a toe-tapping beat.

The 8Bit EP sounds more like the guitarist recorded some interesting guitar textures that just never got worked into full songs. This EP is full of wandering music that remins me of AMP, Flying Saucer Attack (without the dance beat), or Windy and Carl. But it's not as good as those artists. They all create music that is purposefully instrumental and droning. The songs on 8Bit sound as if they are unfinished. The fact that they are all really short (6 tracks in just under 15 minutes) might have something to do with this feeling. The drones never really have time to go anywhere, and nothing seems "complete".

That's a shame because these little experiments show promise. After getting over my initial disappointment at having no vocals, i grew to be disappointed that this music doesn't go anywhere.

So i wonder: why was this released? Is it a blatant attempt to captialize on the buzz associated with the "Alison's Halo" name? Is it an attempt at completism -- making available the last little snippets of a now defunct outfit? Is it an attmept to move Alison's Halo out of the dreampop market and into the drone market?

I dunno. However, i honestly can find no one to recommend this to. Alison's Halo fans won't like the instrumental nature of the music, and drone fans won't like the incompleteness of the songs.

Oh well.

 
         
 
Related Links:
 

The Alison's Halo website, where you may order 8Bit, as well as their wonderful full-length, Eyedazzler.

 
         

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