self-released

When music is comfortable enough to listen to in various settings, the CD is a kind of hit. Signal Path’s Clash, their first album in almost two years, is full of electronica ADHD, connecting live instrumentations to pre-recorded rhythms, delivering a funky, trip-hop album that chills down to the spine.

Clash is an electronic party from start to finish, with sounds familiar drawn from Garageband and other computer programs mixed with distorted recorded beats. It is music to make a listener move for endless hours, whether it’s in the shower or on a boat sailing the Mediterranean.

The mixture of hip-hop vocals with edgy dubstep break beats produces a body-nodding reaction. A prime example of this is the opening “Boys and Girls,” a gentle and soothing song with simple lyrics, setting the hip-hop, dance vibe, whose tempos develop into drum-n-bass beats and rock grooves with psychedelic overtones and punchy attitude.

Some standout songs on the album are “Math Machine,” “Feel What You Are,” and “Taku,” which is their longest song, logging in at a little over seven minutes. All of these songs put forth the newer direction Signal Path is taking. Where dubstep is becoming more popular, and bands like Lotus and Biodiesel explode onto the scene, Signal Path taking ideas from several types of music, not subscribing to one, two or even three specific styles. With machines like the kaossilator, Signal Path is using these tools as they incline towards otherworldly sounds.

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Lauren Sutter is a regular contributor to the site.