Source:Metro Spirit

Telepathique
"Last Time on Earth"
Release date: August 5
Urban Jungle Records


AUGUSTA, GA - Yeah, Chicago…Richard M. “The System is Down” Daley may have declared August 10 to be House Unity Day, and we must indeed bestow ample props upon you for playing host to the birth of house music. In spite of this, oh Windiest (and Funkiest) of Cities, it’s no secret that nowadays the best techno-dance tunes consist of imports, typically and largely from the U.K. and most of Western Europe. Y’know, kinda like the best beer.

In recent years, however, the Brazilian sound, one that combines the dub beats and bass thumps of traditional techno with bits of baile funk and bossa nova, has been creeping its way up the coast, through Latin America, and inexorably up into Miami and other house hotbeds of the United States (see our Bonde do Role review). Telepathique, a duo consisting of DJ/drummer/knob-twiddler Erico Theobaldo and vocalist Mylene Pires, completely and successfully embody the style, offering up a unique and nearly seamless amalgamation of digital punk, new wave, and beats provided by haywire robots on their forthcoming full-length, Last Time on Earth.

The strength of Theobaldo and Pires lie not in strict adherence to stylistic patterns, but in their ability to tweak the genre while still maintaining true to its roots. From the get-go, it’s pretty evident that LNOE is not your typical house album; shades of "Psycho Candy"-era Jesus and Mary Chain (of all things) are present throughout opener “Déjà vu,” and though “You Don’t Know” is largely straight-up, off-kilter dub-funk minimalism, the acidic skies open up on more than one occasion for a trance-inducing guitar solo. There are hints of digitized punk in “UR a Joke,” and the ambient tropicalia of “Vida Inertia” takes subtle cues from Savath and Savalas.

To be sure, this is rave-ready music, but its quirky influences and numerous idiosyncrasies will also consume more than a few audiophiles’ weekends. Though it falls a couple of steps short of a cyber-funk masterpiece —“Wild” and “Telefunk” come off as cutting room fodder — Last Time on Earth should secure Telepathique a spot in the record piles of flashlight-visor-bedecked DJs across the world.

Eu Gosto