Reviews for [RL111]
Atariame "Weirdo Goes to the Disco"

• Raised By Gypsies
  For as much music as I listen to, I feel like I have an advantage because I don't really "accept demos" in the way that a label like Rok Lok Records does. There is a paragraph about this release on the Rok Lok Bandcamp page about listening to demos and it got me to thinking-- I listen to music either a) from labels I enjoy or b) via publicists I know and so either way, it's kind of already coming through a third party that I trust. The majority of reviews I get out of the blue are for music which has already found its way onto cassette, so it's kind of a strange place to be... Like... What am I? And why do people read music reviews when they could just buy cassettes from the labels that they like? My initial reaction to the music of Atariame- based upon the first song- is that it has high-pitched vocals, which I thought sounded like Silversun Pickups, and the music could possibly have organs in it but there is a psych-drone quality to it. It's something that could be both trippy and put you in a trance and yet the main sound seems to be drone out. There are also drum machines if that helps you conjure up an idea of what this might sound like in your head an easier. As we get further into the songs, the vocals become more distinctly female (Which they have always have been, I believe, but I have also confused male and female vocals in the past, so there's that) Within this drone sound the music become desolate and for whatever reason I think of Bjork and I always think of Bjork as being in this huge parka type hoodie and so for a few songs I do feel like this one takes place in somewhere very cold. It doesn't have to be Alaska- such as a country which is cold- but it could simply be a meat locker (like in "Rocky") because I can get that vibe from it as well. (So, if you're looking for suggestions for a setting for a music video for "Dreamers" or "Like Like") By the end of Side A we are treated to certain electronics that can remind me of something between the "Resident Evil" and "The Crow" soundtracks as we hit the song "Vogue". It just has this synth and bass which can come down like thunder and lightning. It certainly is a song which has enough of the darkness within it to blend in with either soundtrack and, well, if I was going to make another movie for either franchise in 2016 or beyond I'd be looking to put that song in it for sure. On the flip side we go from elements of dreampop to heavy fuzz to the melodies of Metric. As the vocals can begin to remind me of Joanie Sommers, they also go into this heavy acoustic place by the final song. Interestingly enough, there are eight songs on this cassette and the final song can only be found on the cassette itself so if you just listen to this digitally you'll only hear seven songs. While looking up information about Atariame for this review I also found via the Atariame Bandcamp page that are a collection of three songs called the "Weirdo Goes B-Sides" which you can download at a name your price option. These are best listened to as a companion to this cassette (which means after the cassette ends press play on your laptop) and I just don't know how to type enough good things about Atariame because this is just one of those things you hear and can immediately fall in love with and then only want to listen to it over and over again.
  
  
  
  
• Lost In a Sea of Sound
  Playing from a hazy dreamlike void, Atariame's sound cuts through and roots itself in your thoughts. Weirdo Goes to the Disco contains seven time lost tracks merging multiple genres into one contemporary sound. Glazed pop offerings drenched in an ambient mash of mysterious hypnotic vocals backed by rhythms of futuristic new wave electronics. This composition beckons you to draw closer while the enchantment of prismatic beauty finds aural pathways into your mind. Most simply conveyed, the allure of Atariame grows with every listen. Being an outsider, these soft-hearted tunes almost seem to wisp by on the first time through. Like you are present but do not have the matured empathetic ability to truly understand. On the second listen, Atariame has shared wisdom and pulled your feelings from the cold night and closer to the flickering flames. The gossamer tones through out Weirdo Goes to the Disco are tethered to times passage with vintage polish of the early eighties. Only drawing from the past in a tributary quality, and with this moving the entire sound far into the distant future. There is a reminiscent tone to this tape reminding me of the first Flying Lizards record from 1979. Only Atariame has focused her sound in the trance like qualities of the past exchanging the avant-garde for melodic elegance. Released in a limited edition of forty cassettes by Rok Lok Records from Long Island. A really good choice for the label in keeping a well rounded diversity of the artist Rok Lok exposes. Copies are available from Rok Lok's bandcamp page.
  
  
  
  
• Cassette Gods
  St. Petersburg’s Atariame conjures up one certifiable, sparklingly-spooky trip through a haunted woodland, where things that go bump in the night echo their trebly scratching via vintage drum machines; where the hoots & howls of unseen beasts are synthesized through a foggy, decaying warble & bounced off every mossier trees. Our hosting Russian High Priestess assures us through a stoic half-chant that we are to venture deeper and deeper on into these wooded song structures; it’s okay to get lost in the energetic meditations, okay to give up catchy hooks for ethereal moodiness-mask fittings, okay to will those sagging note-branches back to their more sonorous positions with labored chin raisings. We do not have to understand the first few times around, but we will, and we will return again and again. “Atariame”. Whisper it three times into your compact mirror and snap it shut, as the sun sets.