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Album Review by Aaron Coleman
almostcool.org
http://www.almostcool.org/mr/1675/
Healamonster and Tarsier are a duo from Brooklyn that create electronic pop music that veers between dense ambience and fractured IDM. Their debut EP 00:00:01 was an entertaining little slab of music that blipped with video game sound effects and somewhat dated programming, but managed to maintain itself with a great sense of humor and some great hooks. The Heart Of A Blue Whale Is The Size Of A Small Car is the second EP from the group and finds them moving into much more assured territory, with a slew of better tracks and much more full production.
Opener "Cycle" is easily the best track the duo has ever done, swirling together fractured dub mixed with breakbeats, strings, pianos, and other thick programming. The result is a dense, gorgeous track that features some great multi-tracked breathy female vocals and nice song dynamics that move from near-silence to rich and full. "Five Days In Maine" mixes strummed guitars, blippy sound effects, and more swirling production alongside male/female vocals. Although the lyrics are a little on the light side, "Cotton Candy (Moonbunny Remix)" again finds Tarsier (the female member of the duo) adding her breathy vocals over a more sparse, but still very lushly-produced piece. It's also during this track that it becomes pretty apparent that the pieces with her vocals stand out as much stronger than those where both members trade off or harmonize. At times (especially during the soaring two-language vocal heights of "Vista"), Tarsier almost manages to channel a less histrionic Bjork.
After the first two-thirds of the album, the final two tracks of the release feel somewhat out-of-place. "Smiling Under Umbrellas" has the same lush feel as other songs on the release, but the jarring vocodered male vocals seem to deflate it from reaching earlier heights and "Shark Hunt" closes the release with a fairly simple 4/4 thump and some reverb-heavy spoken-word samples and other weird sampler-gone-wild ephemera that never quite gels. Overall, the six songs and nearly half-hour of music is definitely a step up for the group from their last release.
rating: 7.25 - http://www.almostcool.org/mr/1675/
AMOEBA MUSIC ELECTRONICA
TOP SELLERS (SEPTEMBER 2009)
1.HEALAMONSTER & TARSIER - CUPCAKE CAVE
2.MOBY - WAIT FOR ME
3.KOMPAKT Total 10 -KOMPAKT Total 10
4.CLARK - TOTEMS FLARE
5.FLYING LOTUS - LOS ANGELES
6.BIBIO - AMBIVALENCE AVENUE
7.DIPLO VS. SANTOGOLD -TOP RANKING
8.NICK CURLY - 8BIT REASONS PART ONE
9.DJ SHADOW - SCHOOLHOUSE FUNK
10.NOSAJ THING - DRIFT
11.CUT COPY - IN GHOST COLOURS
12.THE BLOODY BEETROOTS - ROMBORAMA
13.SANTOGOLD - SANTOGOLD
14.JEGA - VARIANCE
15.QUANTIC & HIS COMBO -TRADITION
16.BLACK METEORIC STAR-BLACK METEORIC
17.DUBFIRE & LOCO DICE-IN THE MIX: TEN
18.YELLE - POP UP
19.GIRL TALK - FEED THE ANIMALS
20.KRAZY BALDHEAD - THE B SUITE
21.MODERAT - MODERAT
22.N-TYPE - RINSE-09
23.SEBASTIAN TELLIER - SEXUALITY
24.LITTLE DRAGON - LITTLE DRAGON
25.CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA - MA FLEUR
- Amoeba Music Hollywood
Amoeba's Electronic Best Seller! This L.A. production duo combines elements of ambient pop with experimental electronics and acoustic psychedelia. - campuscircle.com
Discography
2009 - Cupcake Cave - CD
2005 - The Heart of a Blue Whale is the Size of a Small Car - EP
2002 - 00:00:01 (One Second) - EP
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Bio
Healamonster & Tarsier (H&T) are an electronic production duo whose music is characterized by soft vocals, mid-tempo elastic breakbeats, and a variety of traditional instruments. Their musical style combines elements of dream pop, dub, ambient, and other cinematic forms of music.
Healamonster (Burgess Tomlinson) began writing songs with Tarsier (Rona Rapadas) in New York where they recorded their 2002 debut EP, “00:00:01 (One Second)”. CMJ described it as “a psychedelic fantasyland created with delicate vocals, light piano, a harshly-fuzzed out drum machine and mischievous electronic sounds.”
At the end of 2005, they self-released another EP, “The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car”, which was co-produced by Mitch Osias, a New York Film and TV soundtrack composer whom they first met at Brooklyn venue, Southpaw, while opening for The Sneaker Pimps. The six-track album is full of atmospheric arrangements, subterranean cellos, abstract synthesizers, broken guitar fuzz, programmed percussion, and crystalline vocal harmonies. Throughout 2006, the album was in heavy rotation at KCRW with songs, “Cotton Candy” and “Vista” played by veteran DJs Nic Harcourt (”Morning Becomes Eclectic”) and Jason Bentley (”Metropolis”). The album enjoyed commercial success on an indie level, staking its post on Amoeba Music’s Best Selling Electronic Albums List for a continuous 15 months. Over 500 copies have been sold at indie retail giant, Amoeba Music in Hollywood, CA to date.
H&T have collaborated with different artists, including Ninja Tune/ Mush recording artist, Neotropic. Tarsier also collaborated with electronic/hip hop producer, Alias from Anticon, on two albums (Brookland/Oaklyn, released May 2006 and Plane That Draws A White Line, released September 2006). H&T toured the U.S. extensively throughout 2006, playing 40 dates with the 4-piece Alias & Tarsier live band for these Anticon releases.
In 2008, H&T settled in Los Angeles from New York and recorded tracks for their first full-length, “Cupcake Cave”. The album was produced by Jaymee Carpenter and recorded and mixed by engineer Arnie Geher in Studio City, CA. The result is an ambient pop album baked with layers of enigmatic soundscapes and intricate melodies. A blissful marriage of melodic whimsy and emotive introspection that transports you to a wonderland of acoustic guitars, zither, vocal harmonies, dog collars, UFO sightings, dubby beats, double rainbows, dirty rainbows and of course the sweet serenity of cupcakes. H&T’s goal for this album was to create a peaceful and abstract soundtrack to everyday meandering. It celebrates the constant search for hidden trails and the ones that eventually lead us to caves.
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