Tracky Wilson formerly of the excellent Turntable Report newsletter is here with her new band, Outer World. Wilson was also in Dahlia Seed and she's joined here by Kenneth Close (her bandmate in Positive No). Outer World is the pair's new project, and their new album, Who Does the Music Love?, is out today.
"Forms of Knowing" has a Stereolab-ish sense of how to incorporate Sixties-style keyboards, and that lead-off single eases us into the harder grooves of "The Drum The Beat", a gem on this record. "Flower Gunpowder" and "Loteria" reveal debts owed to Broadcast, though Wilson and her crew make this material far more than just some kind of tribute to records owned. Elsewhere, "The Message is the Message" is a smart run at the kind of sleek electro-pop that Ladytron sort of pursues.
Who Does the Music Love? by Outer World is full of bright pop. The shiny surfaces of the songs juxtapose nicely with a rough DIY ethos, and the result is music with a lot of fire to it. Fans of any of the bands I've referenced in this review will likely find lots here to love.
More details on Who Does the Music Love? by Outer World via HHBTM Records.
[Photo: me, 2023 at Quarry House in Silver Spring, Maryland]