A Feast of Beast

Selections from: Group Rhoda - Out Of Time, Out Of Touch, LSSN012 - Night School

Night School:

It is with a lot of pride that we can announce the debut recording from San Francisco artist Group Rhoda. What began with a desire to learn the machinations of pop music and the environment in which it is produced, has culminated in this, Group Rhoda’s (aka San Franciscan, Mara Barenbaum) debut album, Out Of Time, Out of Touch – a journey into sublime pop music. With grounding in the minimal and the post-industrial landscape, Group Rhoda take classic west coast psychedelia, Suicide’s mechanical simplicity, and the industrial rhythms of Throbbing Gristle through surprising detours. Tropical rhythms, dubbed-out bass, hypnotic Wurlitzer flourishes and, Barrenbaum’s distinctive, plaintive vocal drench this debut with a a technicolour, sun-blanched imagination. 

Barenbaum’s voice evokes a dislocation from reality – a loneliness. ‘Virtual Dancer’ rides a bass-heavy wave to comment on the fleeting nature of human contact in the modern age, while ‘At The Dark’ is steeped in hypnotic pyschedelia. ‘Hi Rise’ continues the theme of isolation on the back of metallic tropical rhythm pattern. ‘Fire’ closes the album with a pulsing, linearity recalling Autobahn era Kraftwerk - a single riff repeating and modulating around Barenbaum’s synthesis.

Awesome new release on the way from Group Rhoda, the latest and a never ending stream of home run releases from Night School.  I love all the snyth sounds going on in these samples, especially in the very opening of At The Dark.  Those opening sounds just remind me so much of the Marshmallow Ghosts, but then things take off in a completely different direction.  Very Chromatics, Symmetry -esque, dark minimal drum beats and synths set against beautiful vocals that sound like they could be coming from Nikki Never.  But things are constantly warping and changing, with almost a Julia Holter sound.  I swear Nightlight is layered over a Phantom of the Opera snyth line, freakin brilliant.  In just these 4 tracks there’s so much variety to hear, can’t wait for the full monty.

Group Rhoda - Out Of Time, Out Of Touch, LSSN012is out on translucent vinyl and Ltd to 500 copies. Pre-order here from Night School, with LPs shipping out round the end of August