Com Truise : Galactic Melt

Locating itself some where between dance pop and down tempo, 'Galactic Melt' presents a gratifyingly coherent vision of electronic music....
Com Truise : Galactic Melt
8.4 Ghostly Int'l
2011 

Com Truise : Galactic Melt

With scattered sound clouds floating in the blogosphere for months, Galactic Melt, the debut album from New Jersey’s Com Truise (né Seth Ryan), is finally available via his website for mp3 download or as either a CD or double vinyl.  Locating itself somewhere between dance-pop and down-tempo, Galactic Melt presents a gratifyingly coherent vision of electronic music.  The album begins with “Terminal,” a fitting introduction to the glossary of sound employed by Truise – arpeggiated bleeps, affected vocals, volume swells, and stereo pans abound.  “VHS Sex” deploys the missing element, 808 drum beats, which form the foundation for the rest of the album; from the bass-heavy “Cathode Girls” to featured singles “Flightwave” and “Brokendate” these focused sound collages employ a single set of drum voices.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect Galactic Melt is the variety and dynamism that Ryan manages to generate out of a carefully curated palette of sounds, a refreshing change from some producers who see each new patch or software update as an excuse for a new release.  The final cut, “Futureworld”, at once sums up much of the preceding ten songs and suggests the influence of DC electro-rockers Trans Am’s classic 1999 release of the same name.  Indeed, Galactic Melt is largely a well-crafted pastiche of nostalgia-core for those of us who were born in the 80s, however Com Truise manages to use the potent weapon of memory to create sounds that resonate in a post-dubstep world where artists like deadmau5 (QRO live review) and Pretty Lights (QRO photos) headline music festivals and sell out arenas alongside mainstream rock and hip-hop acts.  Whether or not Com Truise reaches similar heights will largely depend on his live show, so catch him on tour this summer for a glimpse of the future that sounds a lot like the past.

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