Toy Balloon – ‘Balloon Force’ (mp3)
Toy Balloon – ‘You’re Feeling Trapped’
Toy Balloon are a Brisbane four-piece who explore the gaps between electronic music, pop and shoegaze. Much like the latter genre, single chords and notes are held for long periods, bleeding into the next and creating droning pads that combine with drum machines to form textured beds for the rest of the arrangement. It’s not all atmospherics – far from it. These guys are far more Daft Punk than Aphex Twin when it comes to the electronic side of things and, seemingly untainted by avante-rock ambitions, TB allow the cheesey beats to build to house-like climaxes and the vocodered vocals to cut through the mix and become and extra rhythmic element. There’s hooks, too – guitars aren’t used just for floating reverbed chords but play riffs as well. It’s fun but also dense, not something that you’ll slave over to enjoy but also not something that you’ll completely absorb after one listen.
Also, their album is called ‘Toy Division’ – what’s not to love?
June 4, 2009 3:51 am
Balloon Force is cool. My friend thinks the bassline is a Chemical Brothers rip-off. Anyone know which track he’s thinking of?
June 10, 2009 1:00 pm
Hehe Awesome! I “wrote” the bassline in question. I don’t know which Chemical Bros song your friend is talking about, but it’s possible. I used to listen to them when i was a teen. That album with block rocking beats and the one after that which had music:response. Neither blew me away and i haven’t listened to either one for years. It’s possible i stole something from them which has laid dormant in my subconscious. They were certainly one of the first few electronic bands i bought. I remember listening to Phoenix’s ‘everything is everything’ and thinking it would be cool to do a hip hop version of the song. Epic fail, but nonetheless an hour later i had balloon force. Glad you enjoy it despite it’s derivative nature. If anyone can inform us on which song it could be, I’d love to know! Cheers!
Cooper
Toy Balloon