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MP3 hellothisisalex - the canadian spelling program

Fuzzy analogue tones and jaunty pop beats for fans of catchy electro. Instrumental electronics for warming the winter and cooling the summer.

13 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Experimental, POP: with Electronic Production



Details:
ABOUT THE ALBUM:
the canadian spelling program is hellothisisalex''s second album, a follow-up to the anachim thorn. Released on Piehead Records in Toronto, it is the second volume in the Piehead 2002 Limited Edition Series (only 311 copies).

BIO:
hellothisisalex is Mark Prier and Melissa Creasey, two new-school analogue kids originally from smalltown Ontario, but now living in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Together, they write bizarre electro pop soundscapes infused with whimsy, non-linear narrative, and a love of pop music and experimental audio. In February 2001, they christened themselves ''hellothisisalex,'' both a greeting and being (with both male and female reproductive organs, no less).

Their music has been described as "simple, yet effective, and without any pretension" by Electroage, and as "fuzzy analogue tones and jaunty pop beats" by Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star. The music the duo write is primarily electronic, filled with raw analogue synths and otherworldly noises carried by melodic bass lines. Substancezine places their sound "somewhere between Isan and minimalistic Air without the drug problem".

REVIEWS:
Melodic & catchy lounge-breaks for those chillum days of vintage analogue phantasises: IDM magick when Plaid is too upbeat and Boards of Canada too melancholic. It''s like Batman! Hit me with the soundbytes: Soft snowflake doo-wop for the digeratti! Doo-crop electro boogie from this dynamic duo of Crazy Canucks! Yes indeed, Mark & Melissa craft a lovely crop of mellow songs, ripe for baking your friends. As witnessed at Mutek 2002, hellothisisalex run the Warp-IDM standard through a Canadian weird-filter. The result is somewhere between sampling Bob & Doug Mackenzie''s "BottleCap Song" and Rita McNeil strung across 4 octaves.
[Tobias V. - Minty Magazine]

Behind hellothisisalex we find two young Canadians who are in love with their analogue equipment, mainly synths and synths and also synths fed with an occassional drum machine. The two have a tendency to write short songs with quirky up tempo beats and synths that roll along nicely. Cute little pop melodies that would fit along the robotic lines of anything on Suction Records (might it be a coincidence that they are from Canada too?) or most of the music put forward by Morr Music. There isn''t a particular stand out track here, but they all have the same good quality. Very well done.
[Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly]

This is my first exposure to the duo of Melissa Creasey and Mark Prier, better known as hellothisisalex. the canadian spelling program (yes, these folks are from Canada!) is their second full length release, and even so this release is only 34 minutes in length. But there are 13 tracks here, chock full of analogue synths, cheesy melodies and quirky rhythms. It''s all happy music (there are very few shadows to contend with here) with charming, naive melodies and mostly uptempo rhythms. It''s music that wouldn''t feel out of place on Morr Music or even Rephlex. There are no sudden shifts or changes of direction, no real surprises once you have listened to the first few tracks, but the tracks are nicely assembled and together make for a very cool record to enjoy when the mood is light and the sun is shining.
[Richard di Santo - Incursion Music Review]

If it is possible to encapsulate youthful innocence and lack of trend following savvy into music, hellothisisalex comes very close. Sweet, light-hearted Casio tones are coupled with the dated, yet warm and lush sound of Moog synthesisers, which may have been the cutting edge of sound 20 or 30 years ago but now seems charmingly dated and quite quirky. I must admit rolling my eyes and being taken a little aback when I first heard this CD, but got into it within a few seconds. hellothisisalex is Mark Prier and Melissa Creasey, who seem to be composing soundtracks to their innocuous lives with songs like "Deep River, Ontario," "Television, My Lazy Brother" and "Working In a Small Tape Store." the canadian spelling program would best be appreciated by those that want something different from IDM and 4/4 dance music. In this case, a quirky musical foray into warped synth-pop via keyboards and other musical machines.
[I. Khider - Exclaim]

[On] hellothisisalex''s follow-up to the 2001 full-length debut the anachim thorn, Melissa Creasey and Mark Prier have refined their music a little more, pushing toward melody without loosing their experimental edge. the canadian spelling program packs 13 cuts in 34 minutes. The pace, tongue-in-cheek attitude and analog electronics recall Helgoland, the simplicity and childlike naivete of some of the melodies evoke the music of Felix Kubin and Nova Huta -- in any case we are in European neo-analog electro-pop land, making hellothisisalex an unusual outfit by North-American standards. Yet, the music is by no mean derivative, it has its own quirky, irresistible identity and achieves a nice, accessible balance between immediate retro-feel melodies and left-field arrangements. Only a couple of tracks fall into the mediocre category ("In a Heartbeat" and "Royal Perennial" in particular). Everything else is pure intelligent entertainment, the kind of bedroom-producer techno tracks you can enjoy without feeling ridiculous. You listen to this album with a smile on your face simply because these melodies make the sun appear brighter.
[François Couture, All Music Guide]

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