You could be forgiven for expecting Mixel Pixel to be a chiptune outfit. Not quite. They call themselves glo-fi, which might have been appropriate when they started as a duo making cheap cassette recordings all the way back in 1995, though no one would have used the term then, but these days the home-studio recording set up of the now expanded four-piece is maybe a touch too swanky for the tag. Still, even on their most recent album “Highschool Is Not Hell”, cheap and cheerful keyboards and electronic toys are present and accounted for, and with them Mixel Pixel make simple, playful indie-tronica tunes with an occasional dreamlike swirl.
Only during the outro to the almost unbearably upbeat “Haze For Days”, the album’s final track, do Mixel Pixel come close to the hyper-energetic chiptunes that their name suggests. It’s a great ride for any video game nostalgia nut, but not representative of their usual sound. The fake record hiss at the opening of “Libra Logic” is the first sign of a debt to Beck – remember the opening to “Where It’s At”? – that becomes more obvious as the album continues. There’s none of Beck’s funk sensibility here though: an almost hesitant male vocal gives way to a female lead on the chorus, floating over soaring synths in a gorgeous climax.
It’s on “Cropcircles” that the Beck-isms really shine through. It starts off as another drifting, mirky track before lead singer Rob Corradetti’s vocals morph into some white-boy rap and abandon any pretence of sense, “Devils Haircut” style: “Legs on my bird on my tri-force high-face. Bi-plane, helicopter, sharkskin, car chase.” A Braids-like haze combined with a penchant for compelling nonsense lyrics. Good shit. Stream the whole of “Highschool Is Not Hell” below or hit the bandcamp link to download the album for my favourite price: name your own.
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