Band:
Toril Lindqvist (sång)
Anders Alexander (trummor)
Johan Dahlbom (bas)
Martin Kenzo (gitarr)
Discography:
Maiden Voyage (2003)
Outrageous (2005)
She’s a machine (2008)
Guests:
Info
Released 11/2-2011
Reviewed 7/2-2011
To call Alice in Videoland something else than disco rock with gigantic influences from techno would be as stupid as making up strange names on genres just to call them something. But somewhere in that swamp is where they are - like a crazy mix between rock, techno and disco. This is good, I'm not going to argue against that. However, in another way it's just repulsive, isn't it? It's this absolutely lunatic mixture of things and even though I'm the first to applaud music that have no respect of genres but with this I only feel toehold somewhere would be good for this band. They have super strong refrains, an enormous wow-factor and hit-feel all the way. But there's also those mad keyboard bursts and electronic sound effects that would make professional DJs to vomit by how offending they mix it, but also swear in jelousy.
The thumping sound is hard to get away from and that feels a bit like a minus for this band. It clearly sounds best when they don't fall in to the club and nightlife-swamp sound. A big plus is the cover on Neneh Cherrys Buffalo Stance. which I think most people have heard some time in their life. A big plus to AIV for making a cover that stays so true to the original while still making it their own song. In my opinion, this is exactly how a cover should sound. Other good songs are Last Lover, the introducing Take Me With You and Something New. Little Bird is good, but a bit too mixed up in what it serves to cosistently take me with it all the way. Bender, on the other hand, is the plummet. It's way too much techno for us gathering at Hallowed. The video song In a Band is in my opinion a transportation stage. A strange choice to pick it for video and singel since it's one of the most anonymous songs on the album.
'Bruce' takes you with it in highest speed for almost the entire album and most songs feels very short, which is a plus. Time flies when you have fun, they say, and if it had felt tedious and dull it would have been worse. The problem is that all these sounds and effects and whatever it is have a tendancy to become messy. They miss a red thread taking you from A to B and when you reach the end, everything has just melt together into a paste with all impressions mixed together. One by one the songs work at their absolute best and it's also most likely that's how they should be heard. Not as a distance start-stop playback but spread out during a full night on the dance floor, or something like that. To understand something of what you've heard you get tempted into playing the album again after it's finished. And since it feels as a pretty soon done deal to do so it's very possible that it's what you do. In other words it's a dubbel point score on this for Alice.
I definitely don't think Alice in Videoland and 'Bruce' is boring. The fact is that I like it quite alot. It's charming and interesting on a mystical, almost wondrous way. I guess there's a reason for calling the band Alice in Videoland - to allude at Alice in Wonderland. To create this Alice in Wonderland feeling and mixture it with videogame sounds. An interesting concept, no question, but what I don't like is how they do it from time to time. Toril is hardly the greatest singing woman on earth. The fact is that her voice is as unpolished as a rasp and instrumentally they are far from champions with simple melodies and completely incomprehensible compositions. The things the album do well are the captivating beats and catchy refrains, as well as the super high speed and nice touch this create.
All in all I think the album have a respectable amouth of good songs and sound very happy and party friendly. I like the feeling and beat that comes from the album and even though it doesn't really stand up as a full lenght album that well it will work perfect at the nightclubs! It's as approved as the pink color on the cover fails to work in a metal stereotype.
HHHHHHH
