VARO
Hardcore Beach

TRACK LIST:

1. Pieces of April
2. Stolen Summer
3. Easy Rider
4. The Man Who Was Not There
5. Memento
6. Buffalo 66
7. Amelie
8. Virgin Suicide
9. The Fast Runner
10. Bowling for Columbia

PACIFICTION REVIEW:

Owning up to their namesake, the Spanish surrealist painter Remedios Varo, this band juxtaposes sight and sound in some unusual ways. Using pre-recorded laptop loops alongside live electric guitars, bass and drums, Varo takes experimental indie in and out of the realms of dance and electronica. However, the surrealism of Varo is revealed on Hardcore Beach through their love of independent films. Every song is named after a movie and somehow reflects the tone and feel of that movie as well as its original musical score without even coming close to plagiarism!

The outcome is as diverse as surfing the Internet Movie Database. "Pieces of April" is a frantic drum n'bass gambit with an urban breakdown. "The Man Who Was Not There" follows a samba tempo which takes us into film noir desperation. "Amelie" is a whimsical, high-tech stroll through Le Jardin du Luxembourg while "The Fast Runner" is a journey through loneliness and determination with slow guitar strums and odd rhythms which end in dirgeful electronics. This collection of movie themes tends to move in and out of genre, yet is held together by Wan Ting's unique guitar styling and similarly programmed percussion ticks.

Please click here for a review of Hardcore Beach in the British music magazine The Wire.