Hot & Cold – “Border Area” – [Moniker Records]

Infections synth rock that does not bear much of a Chinese
imprint despite the fact that it was recorded in Beijing.
I guess in a way, the keybpards of the two brothers Frank
sound like a battalion of tiny cheap assembly-line toys.
Is that Chinese? Dirty blips and squelchy bleeps and some
great sustained waves of dithered drones. Brother Simon
sings in English, with a lively sort of deadpan. Brother
Joshua also drops thick basslines into the mix to help
bolster it. The key brother may be the silicon one, their
drum machine sounds like it has the same drinking problem
that Quintron’s Drum Buddy does! Incapicitated capacitors
and a strict limit of one setting per song make for a well
integrated circus of disintegrated circuits. If you like
one track here, as I did, you’ll dig ‘em all. Organs of
Love wrapped up by a 50 Foot Hose? Solid stuff.

-Thurston Hunger