New stuff from Mike (Wolfie) Downey & Dan Marsden and their collection of old
keyborads, drum machine & the occasional guitar. 6 tracks! Great!
The masters of the 4-track from Chicago are back again with five new songs. This time instead of a
tape release they've upgraded to vinyl. Once again Mathlete has combined keyboard beats with
smoothing analog sounds and crazy vocals to produce another batch of hits. You haven't heard
keyboard sounds like this since you last unplugged your Atari. Songs like "Bring me down (I'm a
fader)" and "Asteroid Police" are sure to have you out of your seat and dancing. This is a must get
7", you will not be let down.
Hey! Mathlete is Mike from Wolfie and his friend Dan, and bleep-bleep-pow-pow electro-keys and drum machine bops are the making of their
new-wavey pop stylings. Among the six songs on this EP there are strong Wolfie-ness in Mike's songs, which might make me lame and redundant
to point out, but I figured I'd plant a reference point anyway. I like his "bring me down (I'm a fader)" for being so side-step dancey and "213 arcade
lane" because of its swingyness. They both have the ever-awesome casio handclaps. Dan's songs kick up the new-wave settings an extra notch
and I really like both of his songs, "asteroid police" and "technology, technology", adding a bonus dimension to an already cool piece of recording.
Pay a visit to Mathlete's webby presense, why don't you: http://www.prairienet.org/mathlete.
Mathlete consists of Mike Downey, who is in Wolfie, and Dan Marsden, who is not. They make music that is in some ways like Wolfie, and that in some ways is not. Ways it's like Wolfie: new wavey, fun, pop with nasally vocals and a bit of guitar. Ways it's not: much more electronic, more complex and stuff. So there.
Anyway, this 7" is cool. Some of the songs are very similiar to some of the songs on the two tape only releases (which both rule and are being put out as a CD sometime). "Technology, technology" is pretty much the same song as "are we technical" off of the Mathlete Leaves the Lab tape and "213 Arcade Lane" is pretty similiar to "the arcade lane" off of the same tape. But in both cases, the mix is a lot clearer. As with Wolfie, there really isn't anything on here that's going to really touch you deeply, but it's fun and pretty interesting. I especially love the Speak-n-Spell that jabbers on in the background of "technology, technology"... So if you like 80s-ish new wavey electronic pop, you should love this. Or if you're one of those brainwashed people like me, you need this to complete your Wolfie collection anyway, so get it. It's good.
Total score: 513 out of 513
the most kickass brilliant Casiocore stuff in a long time. From Mike (Wolfie).
while i know that it is probably not fair to immediately compare a band that utilizes a drum machine, and goofy vocal effects to ween but, well, thatıs the first thing that comes to mind. but unlike ween who spend too much time taking drugs, i think mathelete may have spent too much time in front of a defender machine in a darkened arcade. nerdy, keyboard driven goofy little songs that you might just catch yourself humming while looking for your ms.Pacman game cartridge.
[mb awards 3.5 points of 5]