LOTW 06: Antena & Helvetia
September is among us and the listening quite literally never stops. Here’s what’s what.
“Camino Del Sol,” “Spiral Staircase,” “Unable,” “Joppo + Eno,” Camino Del Sol, Antena (re-released 2004, original release 1980)
Antena was a French-Belgian bossa nova electro-pop trio from the early ’80s, led by Isabelle Antena (Powaga). The group released a mini-album, Camino del Sol featuring the single “The Boy from Ipanema” in 1980, which was then expanded in 1982 by the Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule. The mini-album was re-released once again in 2004 by The Numero Group, an archival record label that works solely in compilations, including re-mastered tracks, B-sides, and two previously unreleased songs.
At its core, Camino del Sol (translation: “way of the sun”) is synth pop — entrancing on multiple levels, exploratory, and layered. The opening track sets a scene of vacation, with lyrics hinting at saunas, Olympic swimming pools, and hotels in Palm Beach. The chilled-out, muted percussion and relaxed keys provide a similar ‘take a load off’ vibe, but the occasional minor chord modulation keeps you on your toes and adds an eerie veil to the track. Images of vacation return throughout the album on tracks like “Noelle a Hawaii,” and “Seaside Weekend.”
The album’s production is bright and concise from beginning to end, leaving space for each individual component of a track to shine, whether it be echoing vocal rounds, faraway percussion, or organ-like synths. I think of Antena as something like the Beach House of their day, but even more experimental and less genre confined. I’ve come to notice something new in each song every time I listen. Sometimes it's the sharp tropicália guitar riffs (“Sisséxa”), other times it’s the ahead-of-their-time synths (“Spiral Staircase”), sometimes it’s a combination of both (“Joppo + Eno”). Once limited to a mini-album, the Numero Group release of Camino del Sol sits at just under an hour with 16 tracks. It’s now the kind of album you can listen to on repeat for half a day and not get sick of, finding new moments of greatness in each go around.
Listen if you like: sparkles, Bloom, European beaches, bongos, the occasional trumpet, going away without telling anyone, Margo Guryan
“Honest Gods,” “Old, New Bycicle,” “Moving That Behind,” The Acrobats, Helvetia (2008)
In 2005, Duster alum Jason Albertini formed Helvetia in Seattle with former bandmate Canaan Dove Amber. After spending the beginning of their career exploring the ways of slowcore and teetering on the line of shoegaze, the pair tried their hand at a little truer of an indie outfit, aligning more closely with DIY rock groups of the early aughts scene. The Acrobats is the group's second album, released in 2008, and sees the band continuing to lean further into psychedelic experimentation with some off-pop sensibilities incorporated throughout.
“Honest Gods” is a favorite — it has the token ‘00s garage rock drum beats a la The Strokes’ Fabrizio Moretti, and takes the guitar sounds to an even grittier and more inventive place. The track has distorted guitar and driving beats that are brain-scratching at times, with similar distortion put on the vocals. It’s a sure change of pace from the tempos of Stratosphere. Similar guitar tones are seen on the popular-for-a-reason “Old, New Bycicle,” which also includes duet-like high and low vocals and an offbeat drum groove that makes the track feel like it’s floating. Though the guitar goes off on its own fuzzed out tangents at times, the track is relatively structured with hooks and verses, with some vox-guitar back and forth action that is classic to many pop rock tracks. This song is a perfect example of the slight lessons from pop Albertini incorporated into the album. He provides a very interesting perspective: using mainstream tendencies with an experimental flare and an ear for dipping into different genres and tonal textures gives The Acrobats a centralized sound that still offers a variety of paths for each song to take.
Listen if you like: the intersection of midwestern emo and NY garage rock, vegan leather clothing, medium-sized jams, The Vaccines, trying new things :)
Check back next week to see what else is receiving high marks. In the meantime, the playlist has everything else good from this week (and year!).
