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Review: The aliens have landed, and they have come to danceTeresa | 18 March, 2008 11:00 | (137)
 "Robotique Majestique" by Ghostland Observatory (Trashy Moped Recordings) - Out now All too frequently, electronic music mooches melancholicly around the dance floor, breathily bemoaning its broken heart and wallowing in self-pity and starlight. Ghostland Observatory, while acknowledging the trials and tribulations love can bring, struts cockily up the street to solid beats and metallic echoes and taps heartbreak brazenly on the shoulder, punching it in the jaw before it can finish turning around and then indulging in a well-deserved victory dance. Austin, Texas-based duo Ghostland Observatory's third album begins with the appropriately titled "Opening Credits." Thomas Turner, who handles synthesizers, keyboards, and drums, takes center stage with an instrumental piece that sounds like the score for an extraterrestrial landing in one of sci-fi cinema's campier endeavors. As the track segues abruptly into "Heavy Heart," we quickly realize that there is no need to fear these particular aliens, for they have come not to take over the world, but to bust a move. Guitarist Aaron Behrens' vocals are jarring at first, especially if you're used to the mopier tones that accompany much of electronic music. With his tormented wail, he could easily be fronting a '70s rock band. On the first playthrough, you may catch yourself wondering if the songs might be better with someone else singing them. The more you listen, however, the more adamant you'll become that no one but Behrens could pull this off and make it work as well as he does. Even when he's singing the metaphorical blues, his voice makes it clear that he's lamenting not the pain of his own broken heart, but the pain the person who broke it will feel once they realize what they've let themselves in for. The album is danceably solid, cemented by strong beats, eerie robotic noises, and catchy hooks up through "The Band Marches On." The last three tracks are mostly instrumental pieces that don't fit the purposeful, you-broke-my-heart-and-I'm-not-taking-it-lying-down mood established by the earlier songs. This is especially true of "HFM," which consists of a thunderous drum/bass line (which is fabulous) and what sounds like a woman having a meltdown through a vocoder (which is not). It's too hysterical, too emotionally uncontrolled to mesh well with the earlier, more deliberately constructed songs. Had the final three tracks been saved for another CD, this would have been a nice, tight release. As it stands, though, Ghostlight Observatory's "Robotique Majestique" should earn a spot in the rotation of anyone who's been burned by love. Once you've moved past the melancholy, introspective part of the grieving process and are aching to give that no-longer-special someone a piece of your mind in a way that won't be forever cached on the Internet, breaking it on down to "Freeheart Lover" or "No Place For Me" is just what the doctor ordered. Download this track now: "Freeheart Lover"
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