Mixel Pixel : Contact Kid


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Do you remember the last time you went to a show when the venue was small, there is only a small number of people in attendance, the band is in top form, everything seems so intimate and everyone who attended felt like they had all just shared a secret hand shake or something more magical with each other? Try to hang on to that memory. It will be important later on.

Listening to Contact Kid, the new effort by Mixel Pixel, made me feel, rather than analyze. Through the synth-pop keyboards and all of the quirky sound effects, Mixel Pixel pulls the album together magnificently on this coherent, impressive third album effort. They seem to have mastered putting together vocal melodies with rhythmic guitars, drums and other various sounds, all of which live in peaceful coexistence with one another.

Formed in 1996 in Delaware, Mixel Pixel has released two other full-length albums, which reportedly infused the 8-bit soundscapes of old school video games for their songs. I’d be curious to hear these old songs to compare and contrast to the new ones, because this album is nothing of the sort. Some songs on the album are actually quite beautiful, full of introspective imagery revolving around the topics of aging, sadness, and all sorts of other cathartic thoughts of which I don’t understand, but sound great anyway. Plus the songs are usually accompanied by breathtakingly lovely guitar chord changes.

So how does this tie into what was mention before in the very beginning? Upon listening to Mixel Pixel’s Contact Kid, I felt as if I were part of something very intimate. The last two tracks, “Pittsburgh Brain” and “The Drag City Starlet,” especially. Vocalist Rob Corradetti almost whispers as he sings, making the songs, even the whole album, seem like a secret he is sharing only with you.

Similar Albums:
Unicorns – Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?
Pavement – Wowee Zowee
Eels – Daisies of the Galaxy

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