Tiny Magnetic Pets Sunday Business Post / Cork Echo Album Reviews (1 Viewer)

[psycho]

SUNDAY BUSINESS POST June 7, 2009

Irish electronica has down the years tended to suffer from the same basic lack of credibility as Italian hip-hop and German reggae (a hangover from the total domination of our music scene by leather-trousered rock since U2 became huge in the mid-1980s). Certainly, you’d be hard pushed to think of more than a handful of worthwhile records within the genre to come out of this country. Well, here’s one – and it’s not merely worthwhile, but among the most impressive releases of the year so far, Irish or otherwise.

Steeped in oozingly plangent Moog, Mellotron and Vox organs, Return Of The Tiny Magnetic Pets takes its cues from mid-period Kraftwerk, the serene melancholia of Saint Etienne and the deceptively placid instrumentals on side two of David Bowie’s Low (opening track Tempelhof is another nod to Bowie’s Berlin period, named after the city’s airport). Cosmodrome is a sublime piece of fantastically gooey synth-splurge, while the gentle metronomic ticking and chocolate-box melody of A Faraway Sea call to mind Air circa Moon Safari.

The duo have their darker moments, such as the Portishead-meets-Spiritualized drone of Spaced, but the vast majority of the record is suffused in an air of inexorable, pulsing tranquility. It’s a great listen, and hopefully far from being a one-off.

4 Stars

– Jonathan O’Brien


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EVENING ECHO REVIEW June 4, 2009

They are back and they are as psychedeliced-out as ever with this experimental album laden with killer sounds and retro arrangements. If there is one gripe it’s this – the summer’s here and we are all beginning to wind down and de-stress and like all those who blazed the electronica path before them, this takes a bit of time and a bit of brain-engaging to really get into. But with nods to legends such as Air, Stereolab, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and Goldfrapp, it’s one of those albums you just got to keep playing once you get a feel for it. The duo from France, Air have done much to keep the spirit of the genre alive. So if the sunny weather goes away don’t worry, you can immerse yourself in this one.

5 Stars

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The album is available from Road,City Discs & Spindizzy.

You can also buy it direct from Psychonavigation : http://www.psychonavigation.com/tinymagneticpets.html

More on the band : http://www.myspace.com/tinymagneticpets

 

[psycho]

METRO June 11th, 2009

An atmosphere of dull worthiness has always permeated Irish electronica. Though there’s lots to admire about artists such as Si Schroeder and Halfset, the uncomfortable truth is that, even at their most beguiling, the majority of laptop tinkerers in this country are only a few beats away from sending you into peaceful doze. Happily, no such accusations can be rested at the door of Tiny Magnetic Pets, a hook-up between vocalist Paula Gilmer (who has shared stage time with Prodigy and The Script) and Sean Quinn (not the insurance guru obviously – he previously recorded as Electric Penguins). From the swooshing melody of opener Tempelhof to the sugar-plumb twinkle of single Girl In A White Dress, here is a homegrown electronica LP with a difference: you can actually imagine people dancing to it at a club or singing along to it on the radio, rather than simply playing it in the background as they brood in their bed-sits.

Then again, to be strictly accurate, it isn’t an electronic album – whilst the ambiance is pure Kraftwerk circa 1978, the project was actually put together live, using retro Moog synths, a mellotron, vox organ and guitar. But who wants to get hung up on details? Return Of... has bundles of heart and soul – and that, ultimately, is all that really counts.

4 stars

- Eamon de Paor

 

[psycho]

Sunday Tribune June 14, 2009

Tiny Magnetic Pets

Return of the Tiny Magnetic Pets


Psychonavigation


Rating: 3.5/5


Most Irish electronica is destroyed (or at the very least its quality lessened) by nondescript airy male vocals from a proud band member who strongly believes the bleeps and beeps need a spoken input. Tiny Magnetic Pets aim to get away from such moodiness, and have made a decidedly non-Irish minimal ambient affair with female vocals here and there. There's darkness in 'See What I See', and some truly sweet acoustic melodies on 'Girl In A White Dress', but it's the bravery with sparseness throughout that by and large lies on a sort of subdued mechanical slope of a Krautrock hill that inspires.


Download: 'See What I See', 'Spinning'



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SCENE (The Star) June 12th, 2009

Paula Gilmer and Sean Quinn have made a stunning debut of wistful and etheral electro pop with avant garde experimentalism.

Paula’s sweet vocals give the likes of “Girl In A White Dress” and “I Wasn’t Here” an angelic quality, but there is a devil in tracks such as “Templehof” and “Spaced” that electronic music fans will love.

And “Control Me” hints at big room dancefloor remixes that could win them even more fans.

4 stars

- Mark Kavanagh