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Azalia
Snail - Neon Resistance
CD Album 2018 | Silber 262 12 tracks, 39 minutes $14 ($21 international, $10 download) Listen on Bandcamp ~ Stephen Rennicks, Abstract Analogue Azalia Snail has been making her uniquely sweet, hypnotic, noise-inflected brand of pop music since the days before Nirvana broke. Her entire catalog has a spirit of timelessness where you could believe the music was rare gems from the late 1960s as well as from the 1990s when she first appeared on the scene or today. Upbeat, triumphant, & joyous – this is the true sound of resistance & it's irresistable. : Press Release : Watch video for Field Rep Track Listing: Celeste (Can You Feel It?) Field Rep Cherry Blossom Made Out Of Honey The Wild One, Forever Save This Place Every Day Is Your Day Ode To Vega Head On Over Weekend Back The Moral Chemist I Am The Night Sky |
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| Reviews:
There’s no handy one- or two-word modifier to assign to the music of Azalia Snail. A singer, songwriter, and sculptor of sound and notes, she came out of New York in the early 1990s and cut a distinctive figure even by Gotham’s standard of independent-minded visionary rock. Over the last 25 years, Snail has worked with seemingly contradictory elements. Her music is low-fidelity to the core and, at the same time, deeply ambient. She has perfected a kind of lo-fi total immersion, where each instrument has the tone of something borrowed or found, but in combination the arrangements give a ragged orchestral beauty to her surreal, catchy compositions. ~ Jen Dan, Stereo Embers Neon Resistance is the new album from indie pop chanteuse Azalia Snail, on our favorite North Carolina label Silber Records. The twelve tracks have crisp beats, noisy flourishes and intoxicating headiness. Lyrically smart, with sleek arrangements and experimental touches, this is not your usual banal pop music, but rather is restless, enticing and imaginative. Everything we expect from Silber releases. This is an album that takes retro influences and serves them up in a thoroughly modern package. This is a must have. ~ Floorshime Zipper Boots Azalia Snail has been a mainstay of the American indie scene for a long time. And one can understand her longevity when one hears the sort of bright pop she routinely cranks out. Her newest record, Neon Resistance, is out now via Silber Records and it's as fine a record as any in her rich back-catalog. The trippy "Celeste (Can You Feel It)" kicks things off, before the percolating electro-pop texture of the peppy "Field Rep" propels things forward into the ether. This is spacious, nearly-dazzling indie, the sort of thing that should soundtrack a spring day nicely. Elsewhere, the lovely "Cherry Blossom" recalls stuff from Broadcast a bit, as does the more languid "Made Out of Honey" after that. The very best tunes here, namely "Weekend Back" and "The Moral Chemist", nod in the direction of The Go! Team and Danielle Dax, respectively, Snail wisely layering multiple electronic effects upon the tracks to offer up lo-fi that's less reliant on guitars than other stuff out there in the market-place. The subtle and space-y "I Am The Night Sky" closes the record in splendid fashion, the tune a nice cousin to the sort of thing Laetitia Sadier has been attempting as a solo artist recently. Every Azalia Snail record is interesting. That's a given. But I'll venture that Neon Resistance is one of her better, bolder recent releases. Azalia has taken some chances here and the results are some of the lightest-and-loveliest compositions in her rich back-catalog. Subtly brave, the electro-tinged indie on Neon Resistance is great stuff that's easy to love. ~ A Pessimist is Never Disappointed It’s been 13 yeas since I last interviewed Azalia Snail and she remains the creative whirlwind she always was. Starting in the late eighties, she moved prolifically through the US underground rock scene of the 1990s (the Queen of Lo-Fi) and collaborated with many of its soon to be stars like Beck, Trumans Water and Sebadoh. She kept up the pace in the 2000s when the music industry went through something of a revolution (when people stopped wanting to pay for music) and has continued right up to today. As she says in the interview below, “I am a lifer.” She has always written very personal songs and on her new album, Neon Resistance, that is still very much the case. Its lead track, ‘Celeste (Can You Feel It)’ (video below), is huge, an epic Pop song that will ear-worm its way into your life. Let’s hope there really is that parallel universe where Azalia is a star and appreciated for producing songs like this and then lets all go live there! So many of these latest songs really do stay with you, Azalia has managed to capture her personality in them, produced something unique and original to her and they are just plain catchy. ‘Cherry Blossom’ is said to be a ‘calming song about death’ and it really is like a soothing anthem for everyone. The album was produced by Azalia’s husband, Dan West, who plays with her in LoveyDove. He has done an amazing job and given a track like, ‘Made Out Of Honey’, the perfect measure of everything to make it soar and add to the tally of outstanding songs here that will stand the test of time. Another of the highlights is a cover of Tom Petty’s ‘The Wild One, Forever’. This is a song close to Azalia’s heart and she has been singing it since she was a teen. Her version is quite breathtaking and a wonderful tribute. ‘Every Day is your Day” is said to be the anti-birthday song Azalia has always wanted to write. Why can’t every day be your day, she asks. Whimsical and quirky and very and accessible too, another song destined to last much more than a day. There is a more serious side to Azalia’s music as well, which she delivers with just as much passion, ‘Save this Place’ and ‘Weekend Back’ are described as ‘politically charged mantras that speak about the necessity of revolution and resistance.’ We live in a time when these issues need to be addressed as well. ‘The Moral Chemist’ is brilliant with lovely Latin rhythms and there is even a tribute to Alan Vega of Suicide. The closer is perfect too, ‘I am the Night Sky’, is said to be a song of protection and reflection and it sends us off to our own dreams and realities much the better for spending even this short time in the company of Azalia Snail. The theme of the album is stated as, ‘staying true to yourself, your vision, and the ones to whom you surround yourself. The resistance, after all, is irresistible.’ I couldn’t have summed the sentiments of all these songs better than that. If you love great uplifting and honest songs, then you will fall in love with this album. ~ Stephen Rennicks, Abstract Analogue |
