This week’s show starts with music from a brand new album by electronic artist Breakaway and also features tunes by MPLS shoegazers Brilliant Beast, sonically adventurous alt-country act EMOT, Winona riff rockers Shoe Shop, western swing wizards The Cactus Blossoms, and sophisticated MPLS indie-folk group A Piano In Every Home.

From start to finish, Postcarious feels like an album Breakaway created with both feet firmly planted in an electronic sound. With only minimal and atmospheric use of guitar, Breakaway puts his trademark operatic vocal experimentation, impressive falsetto, and infectious intensity to use over a digital landscape rife with detail and sonic stimulation.

Layered vocals and aggressive beats are the source of a few of the album’s most climatic moment as well. Track 2, The Crashers and The Smashers, ends with a wavy sea of airy crooning over a stripped down, yet fervent, early-Nine Inch Nails style beat. The track featured in this episode, You Can Understand, builds into a dense euphoric wall of echoed vocal phrases over a heavy dose of dance inducing modular synth. In summary, Postcarious is an outstanding document of Breakaway’s vast vocal talents and bold new direction. I hope to see him guesting on other artist’s records in the future too!

Stream or download this episode via archive.org by CLICKING HERE.

Breakaway
“You Can Understand”
Postcarious
Independent
2014
5min

Brilliant Beast
“Dead Man”
Where Do You Want
Guilt Ridden Pop
2013
6min

EMOT
“Lipreader”
EMOT
Independent
2014
5min

Shoe Shop
“Caspian Sea”
Shoe Shop
Independent
2013
4 min

Cactus Blossoms
“Cold Foot Boogie”
Cactus Blossoms
Independent
2011
1:38

A Piano in Every Home
“Blue Motel”
Meridian
Independent
2013
3:13