Rockfreaks.net

Apparat Organ Quartet

Pólýfónía

Written by: PP on 06/01/2012 04:22:31

Alright so this one probably shouldn't be reviewed on Rockfreaks.net considering how far away it is from the genres we usually cover, but since it was sent to us, and because I quite enjoyed the disc, I'll go for it anyway. Maybe some of you aren't music nazis like we are, and actually listen to stuff outside of your comfort zones. This is an experimental electronic record, so I'm clearly way out of my league here being the punk/hardcore/grindcore correspondent, bear that in mind whilst reading this review.

Anyway. The band in question is Apparat Organ Quartet, a five-piece band from Reykjavik, Iceland, whose lineup consists of four keyboardists (!!) and one drummer. The latter basically provides the rhythmic texture for the keyboards to go off with some playful melodies that aren't quite like the 8 bit Amiga tunes, but not far off. At times it's like listening to 90s video game music - they even have a song called "Konami" - but most of the time it's more serious-sounding than that. I've been told they sound like Kraftwerk, however, the effect-laden vocals that make a brief appearance sound like the one Daft Punk song I know. I also spotted a song called "Mach Parat Den Apparat" that utilizes an almost identical melody-line as Apollo 440's megahit "Stop The Rock" at one point. Neat.

Basically, "Pólýfónía" is what it is: a playful electronica album that's apparently getting fairly popular in those circles - it made some end-of-year lists last year in Iceland from what I can read. To a punk scribe who absolutely despises the newest trends in electronic music (the wobbly wobbly shit), let me just say this: I'll take this over dub step ANY DAY, and so should you.

Download: Konami, Cargo Frakt
For the fans of: Daft Punk, Kraftwerk
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date 05.09.2011
Crunchy Frog