Samuraj Cities
Cheap deluxe
Imperial Recordings
As its title and cover (with one of the two band members holding flowers and the other a gun) imply, this is an album of immaculately synthesized contradictions. The feel is slow and moody, but it's got an electrobeat you can dance to (heck, it's hard not to dance to it). It's heavily distorted, dark and fuzzy, but full of crystal clear, bright, new-wave synth riffs. It's warm and emotional, cold and calculated. It's like looking out the dirty window of a train at night, encased in metal, moving quickly through scenes of human experience, empathic and removed. But most of all, it's a really cool record with subversively catchy melodies that demand repeated listening. Shoulda been on my 2006 Top 10.
- Nancy Baym
