Land of the Loops

LAND OF THE LOOPS - Puttering About A Small Land (Up)

"Finally the new album from Land Of The Loops delivered four years after the first. Big Al serves up a fine set of new loops and grooves. Sophisticated, with a more laid back style, 'Puttering Around A Small Land' , is worth the long wait. After finishing school, Alain relocated to Seattle to put the finishing touches on his new masterpiece. With this release, Land Of The Loops prove themselves individuals in the cluttered world of electronic music. The innovators return to reinvent again and it's a party for everyone. Guest vocals from Takako Minekawa, Heather Lewis, Jovita Carpenter (Lady Mallard Of Volume All Star), and DJ Trouble"

Search: The first full length (Bundle of Joy) is a little better than the second. Get it first. Also worth tracking down if Slabco reissues it is the early Percival tape, which contains early versions of songs that wound up on Bundle of Joy along with an interesting cover of "I'll Be Your Mirror" done in LotL style.

Destroy: I like all his stuff, but the two EPs (one of which is remixes) are not essential.

One of those artists where I wind up w/ everything they've released and I'm not sure why. Land of the Loops is great if you like cutesy, Slabco-style, sample-driven indie pop w/ a good compositional sense and catchy songs. Works w/ Heather from Beat Happening and on the most recent works w/ Takako Minekawa. Definitely the best thing going in the genre IMO, but if you're not into the style, you won't like it.

Search: The first full length (Bundle of Joy) is a little better than the second. Get it first. Also worth tracking down if Slabco reissues it is the early Percival tape, which contains early versions of songs that wound up on Bundle of Joy along with an interesting cover of "I'll Be Your Mirror" done in LotL style.

Destroy: I like all his stuff, but the two EPs (one of which is remixes) are not essential.

Then again, I'm a defenseful, fully biased Slabco freak here, so take the following with a grain of whatever you have to sprinkle on your steak...

Pretty much agreed with Mark on the Land of the Loops front, though I'd say if you enjoy the full-lengths, the EPs make a nice complement too. Especially "Welcome Back", which is a fully droned up version of the "Bundle of Joy" song.

Volume * All Star, Sukpatch, Buckminster Fuzeboard, Sientific American, Explosion Robinson, etc. are all great too -- Sientific American being the second essential of the current Slabco roster, IMHO.

The only thing I'll warn about Sukpatch is that their vocals make Winnie The Pooh sound like Chuck D. Very, very, wimpy white nasally vocals.. and the music is more droney than Land of the Loops, i.e. not as many crazy bridges and breaks as song Land of the Loops songs. Also search out a lot of those early 7"s.. there are all pretty good - - and still easy enough to find in 7" used bins. The Sub pop one, and another one with David Nichols' art on it.. I forget the names and labels, but I'll go home and search 'em out.

What ever happened to Slabco? :(

:(

i wonder if Slabco went down when Up records disappeared.....

http://www.slabco.com/pblog/rockit.gif

In the meantime, Sientific American is now going by the more memorable Scientific America, has left Slabco, and it released stuff definitely more in the glitchy electronic hip hop realm.. his latest album Strong For The Future is alright, although I prefer the split with FCS North.. the song "Unamerican Activities" is great.

New Land Of The Loops album coming soon! Apparently! (Although since then, the Loops released a weird split CD-EP with somebody on some Italian label.)

(nothing to do with LOTL but i didn't know where else to post it.)

Latest update from Mr. Scientific American himself on all things Slabco:

land of the loops - alan is currently teaching elementary school in
boston

explosion robinson - stephen herman currently runs a studio in nyc
and produces music regularly for nickelodeon

buckminster fuzeboard - not sure but i think still living in
colorado, where the o.g. slabco crew all met in college

volume all star/ steven nereo: still hosts the slabco site and free
mp3s, but the label is inactive in regards to any new releases.
steven writes music for ads, and does nifty design and illustration
work.

dynomite d : residing in federal way and currently working on a remix
for stevie nicks (yes really!)

sukpatch - signed to grand royal, grand royal folded. stopped making
music for a good while, and recently started making new songs.

me : sitting in my studio writing this email.

wrd.a
scntfc

I was thinking about Land of the Loops the other day. Good stuff.

LOTL apparently patched up the album at least a year ago, acc. to Scott Colburn at Gravelvoice, where Alan goes to do to finalize the sequencing on all the sample/segue stuff on the albums.

I'm guessing the new album will sound like a Land Of The Loops record but a little more "electronic" sounding, kinda like what Puttering was to Bundle Of Joy. Probably still cute, still twee, and still dope.

When it will come out is anyone's guess.

LAND OF THE LOOPS

A couple of us were chatting with him on Twitter a couple of years back. Friendly guy!

MARSHMALLOW PILLOWS