I try hard to refrain from making musical references may they be obvious or not. One reason for this is that it seems unfair to label any artist who isn’t blatantly and obviously copying another artist. Another reason is that I’ve filled my own reading quota of sweeping references to Autecr* and Boards of C*n*da and dismissive comments about the generic nature of this or that sound. In most cases they do not seem relevant at all and especially while talking about generics… however, at times these references may be called for. American Black Moth Super Rainbow would qualify to being a warranted exception, because their overall sound scheme really doesn’t leave me with any option. The similarities with Boards of Canada reaches beyond having a band name that is also a four letter acronym, however BMSR is not being fraudulent and they’re far from being a simple copy of BOAC. In fact it’s the selected sound scenery of the productions that bare striking similarities. The BMSR sound however is much much dirtier, a lot more tounge-in-cheekish and all their tracks seem locked in a hip hop/rare groove that is fused with all kinds of musical memorabilia. Influences are most likely to many to mention. The occasional vocoderised vocals and extreme lo-fi sounding production techniques are all adding to the dirtiness of the sound. The “Start a People” album is 15 tracks long and among them you’ll find the (very short) ninth track “Snail Garden”, a perfect example of the BMSR way: dirty sounding, low-bit sampling techniques, vocoder and a healthy beat putting a smile on your face if you’re in the right mood. The same can be said for track numbers: six “I Think it is beautiful that you are 256 colours too”, seven “Count Backwards To Black” and eight “Early 70’s Gymnastics”. BMSR could easily get a rapidly growing number of supporters if they haven’t already!
electronic desert ≡ revisited + extended