Customer Reviews

Clor

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Imagine if Notwist and Out Hud got together and made an album. It sounds a bit like Prince and Missing Persons as well, but without the pretentiousness of being a cover album. And finally, the whole record, while being able to point at all these references, still manages to be its own creation and entity. It sounds improbable, even impossible, but the good news is that UK band Clor has done this already, so you can stop pushing the limits of your imagination with that last catalyst.

With their eponymous album, Clor manage to successfully meld electronic with live instrumentation, usually at the expense of the listener's sense of direction. The only consolation is that they do it so well, that by the end of the album the myriad key and melody changes become natural. And the moniker "pop" is meant as a nod to that ability, the one that makes you feel as if you know the song so well because you wrote it, even if it's only the second time you've actually heard it.

This is the kind of album that sounds as equally good coming out of either your home stereo or windows of your car (while you're doing some ridiculous speed down the road) as it does pumped through your headphones as you're walking downtown or under the covers. Of course, it would be naive as well as a bit arrogant to claim this is an everyone-album, but it sure is good. If even two of the words "Electronic," "Indie," or "Pop," strike your fancy, you certainly could do a lot worse than pick up this album.

While it seems simultaneously absorbed and absurd to describe your debut album as "a flawless masterpiece of disassociated male sexuality and scientific investigation, set to irresistibly insistent tunes", Clor have certainly delivered a record that splices masculine frailty with songs aligned with glorious musical benchmarks from the 1980s.
On their eponymous debut these sons of Brixton have developed a pop sound that captures Duran Duran's synthesised savoir-faire and David Byrne's edgey allure. While the keyboards, electronic drumkits and special whiz-bang effects often descend into rather ropey realms on tracks such as Making You All Mine and Garden Of Love, it's little wonder considering Clor's guitarist Luke Smith previously wrote bleepy music for video games.
There's more to Clor than a whacked-out love of dressing up, hosting dinky DJ nights and capturing the spirit of Talking Heads on bedroom recordings though, with Love And Pain stretching the influences to include the exuberant pop of The New Pornographers, Gifted adding quality lyrics ("you were the brightest star in my firmament" wins the inaugural Lyric Of The Week competition) that will have Belle & Sebastian fearing redundancy and Dangerzone sounding like electro junkie Tiga covering The Flaming Lips. The mellow and wounded finale of Goodbye might sound like a sweet piece of Travis-style pop, but the lyrics such as "we crave red hot strangers" indicate it's actually a randy little number designed to pull the groupies. It seems like James Blunt isn't the only clever devil switched on to using fey melodies to pull the lassies. Clor blimey.

Once upon a time, this was what indie sounded like, before everyone decided to go alternative; quirky, experimental, arty, sometimes atonal, yet you found yourself liking it for some strange reason.

Enter UK quintet Clor to take it back to the good old days. Their brilliant debut comprises buzzing, jittery electro rock. Case in point, the fab `Dangerzone' with its swirling synths.

There's the funky rocker `Magic touch' with faint Prince-like (`Kiss' especially) traces, electronic sound effects and faint distorted guitars buzzing in and out.

And the slow meandering electronic ballad `Goodbye'. Great vocals from Barry Dobbin.

Just a few highlights that potray the diversity of this buzzing debut!

CLOR comes out of nowhere to produce one of the freshest, challenging, and just plain FUN albums of the year. Melding NYC no-wave rock with New Wave pop songcraft with Electro sonics with crunchy power-punk punch and signature UK nasal vocals, CLOR delivers a potent brew, recalling a wide range of past influences and references while managing to sound like no one else today. Key cuts LOVE & PAIN, MAGIC TOUCH, OUTLINES, and more tell the story. Try it, you'll like it. *Also hunt down the KRAFTWERK meets HERBERT remix by JOAKIM of MAGIC TOUCH on import CD single - absolute dancefloor mayhem!

despite sounding like something straight out of 1983, clor's debut album couldn't have happened any other time than now. it'd be easy to pigeonhole clor into the whole nu-wave revival with the bravery and the killers, but doing so would not only be a disservice to the band, but also to you the listener.

invoking everyone from devo, to dm, to gary numan, to kraftwerk, clor employs an powerpop/electropop punch, that despite the somewhat dated casio-keyboard sound, sounds fresh and vital. songs like 'outlines,' 'love & pain' and 'dangerzone' (no, not nicked from kenny loggins) are relentlessly experimental, yet never sacrifice craft and melody for said experimentation. barry dobbin's vocals bop and weave like muhammad ali--he's impossible to pin down, and that's a good thing. musically, clor is all over the map--there's not a stagnant moment on the album. bass lines, synth lines, and vocals are in constant motion, never holding a note, it seems, for more than a split second. at the end you'll probably be reaching for a bottle of advil from the musical blitzkrieg you've just experienced.

it's certainly not for everyone, but underneath all the madness (and it certainly is mad)are solid, interesting songs. in the end, clor are mad scientists, adding an arm here, an leg there, a new head, all the while creating something new, melodic, exciting and let's face it, plain old fun.

Clor fit in nicely with the whole art school thing, like a trendier Franz Ferdinand, far more electro. Angular guitars flick in and out, synths forming the main melodic backing to vocal lines that carry pretty strong melodies. The best examples are the two singles, "Love + Pain" and "Outlines", which are jerky electro-pop masterpieces. Clor draw on the obvious 80s influences, but also on Kraftwerk (particularly on "Dangerzone") and other recent experimentalists like the Super Furry Animals. It's inventive, bursting with energy and pop hooks, and good fun.