VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ghotsly Swim
(Ghostly International/Adult Swim)
The highs are very high. The lows -- eh, not so much. As a label showcase, Ghostly Swim brings the goods, giving curious Adult Swim viewers a chance to kick the tires of one of the most reputable electronic music labels in the United States. The 19-track collection hits a sweet spot about half the time. That's not a bad return for a promotional freebie.
The Chaps' "Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley" does little for the reputation of smarty-pants electro-pop. "Hit and Run" by Kill Memory Crash sounds silly and dated, like the industrial-lite goth of the 1980s that paved the way for Nine Inch Nails. And The Typing Monkey still can't understand what's so exciting about the music of Ghostly co-founder Matthew Dear.
Of course Dabrye's retro-futurist hip-hop ("Temper") satisfies. But Deastro's "Light Powered" and School of Seven Bells' "Chain" share top billing. The former recalls vintage sci-fi theme music in the vein of Dr. Who; the latter has twin-sister vocalists Alejandra and Claudia Deheza lamenting through a vocoder about being unable to remember their dreams lately, while big square-wave synths cascade behind them.
The Ghostly artists who follow ambient techno (Tycho), cosmic disco (Dark Party, Cepia) or anxious techno and house muses (The Reflecting Skin, JDSY) fare best. And being that this music is entirely free, anybody who's read this far should just go download Ghostly Swim and have at it.
As for Adult Swim -- this almost makes up for unleashing another season of Assy McGee on us. We said almost.
Reference materials: If you find things on Ghostly Swim to enjoy, please seek out other recordings by those artists via Ghostly Int'l. But here's a short list of non-Ghostly musicians with similar appeal ...
diskJokke, David Last, Leyode, Bjorn Torske and TRS-80
