New Music: Strategy: "Stops Spinning" [Stream]
Prolific Portland, Ore., laptop prankster Paul Dickow (aka Strategy) has dabbled in plenty of genres: art-punk with Emergency, post-rock with Fontanelle, krautrock-informed psych-pop with Nudge, and even dancefloor electro as head of his local Community Library label. His ambient-leaning third album as Strategy, out in May on Kranky, defines itself more broadly: Future Rock.
"Stops Spinning" is one of the record's most immediate moments, with calm, detached vocals and a subtle jazzy vibe reminiscent of Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk. On an album of glimmering, low-key electronics, this track is the pop comedown. Blissed-out synth ambiance overlays squishy cymbals, burbling bass, and some light vocoder for a drifting, textural listen that's more "future" than "rock." The past was pretty played, anyway.
[from Future Rock LP; out 05/21/07 on Kranky]