When I first encountered this guy’s music I knew there was a mad mind in the mix. This recording codifies my associations by delivering a pop record that does not preach to the masses. Casiotone takes on a whole new meaning while marking his ten years of recording – here taking on more references to themes from Kojak and the Go Gos to Playschool pop-up books and Pinball Wizard than you might imagine. “Sluggish Alarmswarmcenario” and “Pre-digital Folkstoolhanger” are sheer fun, bouncy acoustic hijinks. Like labelmate Vert, Schlammpeitziger just treats the abused ear with paisley eccentricity and brightly paced randomness. “Just Don’t Ask for North-South Drive” is like an imaginary conversation that dances frivolously with caution to the wind. For a moment while I was listening to “Ignition for Suspicious Hanger’s On,” the memories of the soundtrack from the early 80’s cult flick Liquid Sky washed all over me. The titles are hilarious, the music is smart and has some fun, an art lost in most electronic music that experiments with no commercial potential mimimalism. That said, I can tell this is being built as the next big thing for Sonig and will probably help launch a more brisk touring schedule for their roster. This is true space age music for moderns.
