VILNIUS - It seems the Baltics are becoming increasingly adept at producing high-class electronic music.
Famous DJs regularly play in the region, and local acts in digital distress are starting to really make a name for themselves, garnering praise and attention both at home and abroad.
One of the most notable of the current crop of Lithuanian acts is Skardas (Echo in English), whose latest CD release "Neocron" (Bomba Records) is a fine example of electronic music at its most diverse and daring.
The 11-track album is a real musical roller coaster. You may well end up addicted to riding its mad loops and violent dips, as the entire ride is full of pleasant surprises from start to finish.
The music itself is hard to define. It mostly veers toward a more intelligent kind of dance music (i.e. the sit-down, take a long swig of beer, and take a contemplative look at the DJ-mix kind of music), but with sufficiently irresistible hooks to also make you want to dance.
In particular, tracks one, seven, and 11 really stand out. Track seven is like a sonic dream sequence, a luscious stream of sound that inundates you with images of liquidity. Just like drifting on a raft in a pool on a hot day, the song serenely carries you along until you completely forget yourself.
In case you're wondering, none of the tracks have names - stars signify their order on the album.
Tracks two and three are more standard dance tunes, okay but nothing special, while tracks four and five bring you crashing down with a bump. This is how we like our electronic music - violently up, spiraling down and dizzily all around.
Track eight is like a sonic storm, crackling with layers of suggestive sounds, and track nine is akin to sticking your head into a beehive at rush hour. The final track, however, really makes the whole thing go out with a bang.
It's hard to say in exactly which record store category "Neocron" will end up, but wherever it does, it's worth tracking down. I, for one, am only too happy to see that Lithuanian music is finally coming of age.
"Neocron" is ideal music for one of those nights when you need some background music to sit down with, a drink in hand, and discuss the myriad differences in modern music. It also makes you wonder why you haven't made that epoch-making album yet. Perhaps it just isn't that easy, as Skardas would most likely agree.
