Radio People - Radio People

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4...according to our Business Lady on Thu 22 Jul, 2010.

This Radio People LP is the work of Sam Goldberg, a Cleveland based experimental ambient artist who utilizes guitars and powerful synths to create vast and unending waves of beautiful sound. I'd pretty much rate this next to Emeralds in terms of what Goldberg is capable of extracting from his instruments. Is that recommendation enough? I should hope so. Wanna know more? Oh, OK. It's not quite as tranquil and understated as the newer Emeralds stuff but it does put you into that meditative state of mind I'd associate with them and the likes of Ducktails, Sun Araw or Dolphins Into the Future. I guess the best way to describe it would be New Age music that isn't shit and retains an understanding of the early electronic pioneers like Klaus Schulze or anyone else who could afford a massive, big as your house synthesizer back in the day. The synths on this record are wild crazy and there's enough going on here to keep you going for weeks. Amazing experimentation indeed. Oh, and one of the tunes has a cool drum beat that reminds me of 'Alphabet Street' by Prince. Get in!

Radio People is the latest project from Ohio-stalwart, Sam
Goldberg. After a handful of solo releases under his own name
on Weird Forest, 905 Tapes and the Emeralds-run Wagon &
Gneiss Things labels, he debuted Radio People on an ultra-
limited self-titled cassette on his own Pizza Night imprint. At
that point, there was no way back and the only move was to
push forward with this new cosmic beast. Two more short-run
tapes followed and it was clear that this new chemically
imbalanced synthesizer project wasn't just a quick hit one-off.
Radio People is here to stay.

On this, his debut vinyl effort, Goldberg has compiled the best
elements of those three, long-gone cassettes. This Dubplates &
Mastering cut slab of wax is the strongest statement Goldberg
has made, proving his talent lies far beyond ambient
soundscapes and well into the world of pop-infused synthesizer
chaos and kraut-inspired composition. Major hooks sit
alongside dense planetary drones. Goldberg pairs rivers of
polysynth tracery with deep shards of droning organs, minimal
live percussion and a whole host of drum machine backbone.
This really is the best of both worlds. Melodies suck you in,
beats get your head bobbing and then you're sucked down a
complex tonal wormhole of introspective loops and ambient
synthscapes.

Pop song frameworks nestle themselves neatly beside somber
soundscapes, sometimes jumping back and forth in the same
track. Barely-there vocals foil the stasis, leaving the listener
guessing and wondering if there's a ghost in the mix. Radio
People's embracing of simple kraut rhythms to underscore the
catchy, kosmische wanderings give this music an accessibility
not present in much of Goldberg's previous work. It crosses
boundaries and comes back and shows still untapped wells of
talent and ideas in Goldberg's bag of tricks.

Tracklisting:

1.The Leaf Home 4:23
2.Only My Friends Can Sing 2:52
3.Split Personality 3:34
4.The Leaf Home Pt. II (Vietnam) 3:53
5.New Where 2:31
6.Designer 2:30
7.Transient Romance 5:03
8.Believe 2:08
9.Feeling Sorry For Yourself 8:42

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