Posted on 10/26/2009
The group is called Vinyl Life, they are on a label called Tape Theory, and their track titles include “Hi Tops” and “Press Rewind.” The credits cite many of the big figures of 1980s urban electronic music as influences, from Larry Heard to Eric B. & Rakim but also including such antecedents as James Brown and King Tubby. Although these textual clues offer good insight into what Vinyl Life are aspiring after, the listening experience reveals that a few of those names are probably more significant than others, with Bambaataa and Kraftwerk standing out most clearly. One of the songs, “Like This,” surmises: “Betcha never heard it like this before.” It’s just not true, we’ve heard music like this many times ---first when electro was new, but then again here lately when serving as partial inspiration for the varying degrees of 1980s retro-futurism that have been in vogue for the past several years, that have found their way even into the work of mainstream artists like Kanye and Pharrell. Not that this particular lyric should be taken too seriously; it is the kind of phrase that sounds good over this brand of music, but even that observation forces a admission that the music may be based more in image than innovation.

The music is made, according to the liner notes, “on hardware drum machines and synthesizers,” and the Tape Theory motto promises “analog music in a digital age.” There is clearly a great deal of nostalgia for the past, but even if the overall vision seems rooted in aesthetics this is not to suggest that they have fallen short of their goal. Classic keyboard sounds are frequently used to produce incredibly catchy melodies, combined with great drum programming and all falling under the auspices of reverb, vocoder, and other heavy uses of effects processing. Most of the tracks are also subjected to a style of vocal in keeping with the time period, a stilted old-school flow not too far removed from what was employed by Newcleus. There is no doubt that this is party music, rather than the introspective techno or deep house of later years, and so it is little surprising that Vinyl Life’s bio attributes great significance to their live show. There is a seeming tendency for retro acts to be rooted in live performance, perhaps a function of being isolated from the opportunity to hear innovators in their prime. A penchant for mimicry may also account for why the transition to recording artist isn’t always as moving, recordings being more readily compared against the familiar, better predecessors. Vinyl Life is not bad, but feels tame in contrast to their heroes.

-Justin Deremo