You hear some of the best records right at the end of the year. It always seems like just after you’ve refined your top-10 list, something absolutely amazing comes along and causes you to rethink the entire list, and the entire year. The Mitgang Audio have done this. The View From Your New Home is a revelation, a glowing beacon of pure IDM-pop in an ocean of what has become tepid two-step garage and glitch beats.
This is a simple record in the best way. Simple beats, simple melodies, simple programming, simple vocodered vocals. From the opener “Minor Causes” on, the pure pop mastery of the songwriting just sinks into your head, bouncing around and around, infinitely catchy. “Tokyo-Scope” recalls Kraftwerk or Vince Clarke-era Depeche Mode, which is unavoidable for this type of music, but the association works positively. It bleeps and burbles in the nicest way.
The record, like the best Boards of Canada, evokes an earlier time in life, a feeling of innocence and playfulness. But not wistfulness, or melancholy, like BOC. The Mitgang Audio are pure fun, all the way through. Even during “The Escape,” a detour into chamber music, retains a joviality about itself.
Prepare to rewrite your top ten.
The View From Your New Home is OUT NOW on Suction Records.
