One cannot be blamed for getting lost in the dense matter that occupies most of Orange County-based House of Wires' debut album, You Are Obsolete. Jon Sonnenberg and Robert Gutschow spread the layered, mechanical beats and sinister strings and synths on thick. The result is fascinating. With a decidedly new wave bent in their vocals (sung in a British accent that, at times, resembles The Cure's Robert Smith), House of Wires (formerly Pivot Clowj) is the first co-release between Tooth & Nail and Plastiq Musiq, the fledgling, all-electronic label home to such promising upstarts as Brittanika and Mothership. What House of Wires has to offer with their full-length debut is 12 variations on the theme of defying the rules American pop music has set before them. Whether employing snoring synths and a ghostly female vocal against a strolling jungle beat for a cover of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" or stuttering rhythms and a haunting melody for "Everything," there is nary a boring moment on You Are Obsolete. In a musical subculture where repetition is the law of the land, House of Wires dares to write melodies much in the vein of Joy Electric (whose mastermind, Ronnie Martin, produces). By the time the inventive symphonic loop and funky beat fades in the instrumental last track, "Violin," the listener will most likely want to start back from the first song and enjoy this creative record all over again.
Other coverage for this album
Opus 1998Reviewed by Jason MoreheadPop in You Are Obsolete and several bands leap immediately to mind: Erasure, the Pet Shop Boys, and all of those other synth-pop groups that managed to wed bright, cheery melodies with melancholia. Now, in Christian circles, when you mention synth-pop, only one group comes to mind -- the mighty Joy Electric. And the Joy Electric connection is obvious; Ronnie Martin even produced the album.…Similar sounding releases
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