Com Truise takes to the STAR for MFNW-8/16!!

New Jersey based producer & designer Seth Haley delivered a most formidable document to the world of electronic music with 2011’s debut LP, Galactic Melt, using the irreverent pseudonym- Com Truise. The album projects a holistic, digital stratosphere in which a decades worth of pop nostalgia actually melds with a contemporary sense of carte blanche. The synth heavy melodies and crisp sequencing of Galactic Melt are immediately familiar (80’s Lazerhawk anyone?), and relatively similar in retro-obsession as Kavinsky and Neon Indian.
Yet, the elements of past are redesigned into an original whole for Com Truise. Take the cover art for his debut: a boldly colored inversion of Joy Division’s seminal Unknown Pleasures. Where there once were sharp seismic peaks, curvilinear lines now melt over textured polygons; totally retro, but at the same time Original. To pin the reference, the introduction into the groovy “Cathode Girls” features a chilly, bass line straight from Peter Hook’s chorus pedal on Unknown Pleasures. Seriously, check it out!

Seth Haley’s precision in splaying the 80’s through his own ultra post-modern filter ends up being a brilliant affair. Synth-pop has replaced the IDM artists of yore with clever interpretations of the past, but Com Truise occupies a brand of funky chillwave unparalleled, IMO. While Galactic Melt set the pace for his cold synths, bass heavy kicks & snares, the album offered no organics: nixed samples, acoustic instruments, and nixed human voices (minus the dark moans of VHS Sex!)… Only computerized recordings of an announcer brings you back to earth occasionally. However, on last years Wave 1 EP, the producer charts some nascent-R&B territory in Prince-nodding tracks like “Declination” and “Miserere Mei”. Very exciting, considering Com Truise as an artistic medium for Haley, has other stratospheres of synth pop exploration to traverse.

Those twin horns of Red Bull Sound Select will be presenting an evening of chill atmospherics as part of MFNW’s annual takeover. Premiering August 16 at Star Theater—Aan, Hustle & Drone will set the stage for Com Truise, the show is sure to deliver the smokiest synthesizers and dance vibes in this summer’s line up. I’m thrilled to bring you coverage as KPSU correspondent and DJ of Moonbeams & Wet Dreams. The youthful appeal of an institution built from energy drink to pop music vehicle will reach beyond the stage this Saturday… find me in the dance pit, beneath the neon lights.

Check out the event: [url]https://www.redbullsoundselect.com/events/2014/08/red-bull-sound-select-presents-musicfestnw-night-2[/url]

Yours truly,
Dovin

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