January 2019 Highlights #1: Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, Tallies

As 2019 gets underway, here are a couple of new releases that stood out this week:

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - De Facto

It's been about two and a half years since we last heard from the Guadalajara, Mexico, psych-rockers Lorelle Meets The Obsolete who released their 4th album "Balance" in 2016 and also played their first ever gig in Athens that October. They are back this week with their latest and greatest new record "De Facto", an album accurately described as being somewhere between the electronic experimentation of Low's "Double Negative" and "Tender Buttons"-era Broadcast. Here's the video for new song "Líneas En Hojas", one of the catchiest songs they have ever made:

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – Líneas En Hojas

Tallies - Tallies

Another release that caught our attention this week is the debut album by Toronto, Ontario indie pop quartet Tallies. Their guitar sound brings to mind the C86 era that regularly makes a comeback every few years while their pop melodies and Sarah Cogan's singing reminded me of The Sundays (remember them?). Here's the video for "Beat the Heart", one of the album's highlights:

Tallies - Beat the Heart

Live: Lorelle Meets The Obsolete @ Death Disco (Athens, October 14, 2016)

Friday night we were back to Death Disco for our second fix of guitar noise for the week, this time courtesy of Mexico's Lorelle Meets The Obsolete (check out what happened on Monday at Girls Names' gig here).

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete record their music as a duo, with Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto González playing all instruments, but on stage the band presented its latest record, their fourth effort titled "Balance" as a five piece. Lorelle's melodic vocals, following shoegaze tradition, are usually buried in the fuzz of the guitars, keyboards add insistent, psychedelic drones and the distinctive rhythm section often drives the songs towards the paths that krautrock opened.

With so many musical threads to weave together, the band seems to strive to find, as the title of their new album suggests, the right balance that will tie everything together and when this happens, as on the mesmerizing single "La Distinción", the results are truly spectacular.

Their hour-long set was a fine introduction to Lorelle's and The Obsolete's idiosyncratic, psychedelic universe, a journey with many twists and turns that you're never sure where it will lead, but you'll certainly be glad they took you along for the ride!

Check out below two songs from their set, "Music for Dozens" from their 2014 album "Chambers" and the title track from the new LP "Balance":

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Music for Dozens, live @ Death Disco

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - Balance, live @ Death Disco

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete, live @ Death Disco

Cruel Anagrams, live @ Death Disco

The night opened with a half-hour set by local duo Cruel Anagrams, playing electronic-influenced experimental pop. Guitar and synths build the backdrop for Lily Truble's narratives and although the result is at the same time strange and intriguing, I believe their live sound would benefit if they brought on a drummer to flesh out the rhythms. Modern technology makes it easy to record music with just one or two persons, but to get a good result live you still need a full band, something that was proven later on by Lorelle Meets the Obsolete and their live band.