Last Temptation Of... The Low Frequency In Stereo, Vol. 1 CD

Any band that comes from Norway but claims to have "one foot in Pompeii and one in space" is a band that deserves a listen. And on their third album, Low Frequency in Stereo don't disappoint, though they do occasionally bemuse or even befuddle. Their sound is a dense, almost claustrophobic amalgam of seriously lo-fi guitars, horns, and cheesy keyboards, and their songs have a punky sense of urgency and sloppy structure. Imagine watching a '60s spy movie with a Troggs album turned up to the same volume as the soundtrack, and you might have an idea of what kind of sound to expect here. And that's a compliment, mostly, especially when the short, sharp lyrical blast of "Big City Lights" cuts through the song's cluttered soundscape, or when "Axes" makes you realize what the early Joy Division would have sounded like had their only keyboard been a Farfisa organ, or when "21" makes you simultaneously fall in love with Hanne Andersen and wonder whether she's getting the psychiatric help that she sounds like she needs. Skip over the ten-minute-long instrumental title track, which is the album's low point. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson

Recording information: Crystal Canyon, Oslo, Norway (07/??/2005/09/05/2005); Grapehouse Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark (07/??/2005/09/05/2005).

Personnel: Orjan Haaland (vocals, organ, drums, drum machine, percussion); Per Hanson (guitar); Kenneth Andersen (piano); Anders Moller (percussion).

Audio Mixers: Ingar Hunskaar; Marius Bodin Larsen.

Spin (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[F]linging punk aggression, surf-guitar twang, new-wave angst, and psychedelic weirdness into the same tangy, overheated stew."