Radio People – Radio People

The debut vinyl effort from the prolific Sam Goldberg, “Radio People”, is a combination of the elements of three of his previous cassette releases on the Pizza Night imprint. It’s a fascinating and layered outing, filled with booming keyboard drones, kraut-inspired electronic synthscapes, pop references and classic beats…

The vinyl was cut in Berlin’s Dubplates and Mastering, and the sound is crisp and clean – the multiple keyboards hover in the right places, and pack a hefty punch when they move into the lower quarters.  One distinctive mixing touch that really impressed this listener was placing the sound fairly front and centre initially, so when the stereo separation opened up in later tracks, it came as a really noticeable and dramatic change. One imagines the temptation with soundscaping would probably be to try and use the full spectrum as soon as possible, so it shows a pretty confident approach to not have to open up the bag of tricks at the gate.

This confidence is regularly displayed throughout the nine tracks on offer here – an initial listen registers a well layered and organic approach, with a lot of the beginnings and ends having a “live take” feel to them. It really opens up on repeated listens, when the abundant ideas come into sharper focus. All of the keyboard tracks are easily distinguishable, too, which is welcome given that similar material sometimes suffers from becoming indistinct when all the keys blend together.

The sequencing of songs works well, with “The Leaf People” establishing the vibe of the project early. ”Only My Friends Can Sing” starts the 80’s referencing with its flaring keyboard melody and drum pattern. “Split Personality” brings to mind 50’s sci-fi, with its rising and falling helicopter blades.

“The Leaf Home Pt. II (Vietnam)” is where things start to open up, with what sound like operatic or world music vocal samples dropping down into the far corners of the left speaker, and a simple drum and bass holding down the fort while a simple ambient drone floats overhead.

“New Where” tilts towards intelligent chiptune before spilling open with loping multilayered textured keyboard parts, revealing itself as a standout track with a clever arpeggiated melody. “Designer” leaps out as an emotive and accessible 80’s homage, with some faint fizz hovering on the right above some long notes.

“Transient Romance” brings things down a notch with some tranquil atonality, before rolling in on itself and generating some bright flares. “Believe” is a thoughtful lull before the closer “Feeling Sorry For Yourself” brings back some earlier elements to close.

“Radio People” is painted in bright colours, in both broad and fine strokes. It responds well to your full attention, brushing up against great 80’s tones like Blade Runner-era Vangelis before flittering off towards pop-tinged psychedelia and kosmische wanderings.

Digitalis has dropped Emeralds, Oneohtrix, and Klaus Schulze as reference points, but tracks like “Designer” and “New Where” could play to any crowd. Scratch the surface of this one and you’ll find a lot to be impressed by.

Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Audio

Track List:

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

Release date 19th July 2010

Grab it via Boomkat here
Coming soon to Experimedia here

www.samuelgoldberg.blogspot.com
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