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LP
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MEX 115LP
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"Following the limited edition pressing of Pop-Up Pyramid LP -- designed by acclaimed visual artist Tauba Auerbach & Alps member Alexis Georgopoulos aka ARP (RVNG Intl/Smalltown Supersound), Mexican Summer is happy to present a special second edition of the group's Easy Action LP. Easy Action is the group's third studio album, following III and Le Voyage-- both released by Type (UK). Though, in fact, Easy Action stands apart from those two albums in that the group combined studio recordings with home recordings and further processing to put together the album. Taking a cue from Faust's legendary Faust Tapes sessions, which combined jams in a rather obtuse, sometimes jarring way, the group wanted to showcase a different side of things." Housed in a gatefold sleeve; includes download card.
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CD
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TYPE 056CD
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Still comprised of the core threesome of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Tarentel), Alexis Georgopoulos (ARP) and Scott Hewicker (Troll), The Alps return to Type in full force for their fourth sprawling long-player. Buoyed by the praise lavished upon its predecessor III, the band were adamant that Le Voyage would be bigger, brighter and better than anything in their catalog to date, and Type reports that they have been successful in their quest. The sun-bleached European movie soundtrack sentiment that underpinned their previous records is still here in full force, but it comes rolled up in something defiantly more psychedelic, and in turn more unpredictable. Sewn together by vignettes which bring to mind Delia Derbyshire's Radiophonic hiccups or Luc Ferrari's tape collage, the band have put together an album which genuinely takes you on a journey. Surely it can't be a mistake calling the album Le Voyage then, a title which simultaneously brings to mind the work of Serge Gainsbourg and Alejandro Jodorowsky -- something deeply visual but effortlessly beautiful. With propulsive, break-heavy rhythms sure to appeal to any diggers out there and a blissful, sunny outlook to wipe the frown from the faces of all you dour experimental types, Le Voyage is a crack of light in a dark room. A mysterious record, it is punctuated by the same energy that gave us space rock and psychedelia, and while the band are quick to demonstrate their wide-ranging musical knowledge, there is something incredibly unique about their sound. This is not a lazy soundtrack to a film which might never be made, rather, Le Voyage is a journey for the listener and one you will want to take over and over again.
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CD
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TYPE 040CD
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Although III might be the third album from San Francisco trio The Alps, it marks their first studio-based record and a fresh direction for the psychedelic supergroup. Made up of Tarentel mainman Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, ex-Tussle member Alexis Georgopoulos (better known as ARP), and ex-Troll member Scott Hewicker, there is a deft amount of skill on display as the three rip through eight tracks of sizzling spiritual bliss. Comparisons here are easy to bring up -- Popol Vuh, Ennio Morricone and Serge Gainsbourg spring to mind for starters, as the band toss and tangle through thick drum breaks and reverberating, sun-drenched guitar lines. III feels like a lost soundtrack to some crumbling Italian surrealist classic with its pounding bass lines and swirling synthesizers. This is visual music, inspired by the likes of Werner Herzog, Alejandro Jordorowsky and Michaelangelo Antonioni, but what results is far more than a pastiche. Rather, the trio have concocted a record which, while being aware of its sprawling influences, is far more than the sum of its parts. The finest excesses of progressive rock and the leanest intricacies of the psychedelic folk scene have been splashed together with a distinct, dusty funk overlook to produce something which is totally out of time. Free from some half-baked scene or other, this is the result of three musicians doing exactly what they want. III has taken a plethora of sounds and crumbled them into something altogether beguiling. From the distant supernaturalism of "Trem Fantasma" to the Terry Riley-influenced bliss of "Pink Light," The Alps show us that there's more to psychedelia than meets the eye.
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