Kallioinia
s/t
Flora & Fauna
If ever there were a CD whose playfully loopy, zigzagging synth sound was tailor-made for colorful animated videos, this outing by brothers Matti and Simon Kallioinen is it. The eleven tracks on this disc sound like they were made by robot-children, or perhaps intricately constructed toys that have suddenly come to life. Everything is whirring, bleeping, dancing up the synthesized keyboards and generally running amok with glee. Most tracks are instrumental; the few with vocals, such as "Emerald", rely on vocoder or "Virtual Singer programming" to keep the voices as electro-fied as every other sound. "Marble zone" and "Eon" are thoroughly enjoyable romps, and there's a brightness of color and youthful zippiness throughout that you can't help but respond to. I would have preferred a slightly darker edge and a couple more experiments with pitch-shifting, but that's just personal taste. Overall, this is an entertaining synthesizer/programming foray that pushes the right buttons (literally) in creative ways.
- Kevin Renick
