Album Review: Isa by Croatian Amor

Dismantled machinery, garbled transmissions, obfuscation coupled with moments of clear reprieve — with Isa, Croatian Amor's Loke Rahbek takes a step further in the direction presented on his previous album under the alias Love Means Taking Action, creating disconcerting, almost alien ambient pop that bursts at its edges with tension.   The number of collaborations on the album, from more popular artists such as Yves Tumor or Puce Mary, to smaller faces from Copenhagen (where Rahbek is from) create a sense of virtual community in the ….

Full Review >>

Loke Rahbek's multitudes have long been multiplying. A decade ago, the Danish producer was singing in a black metal band called Sexdrome when he named his brutal noise label, Posh Isolation, after a 1998 lyric of the Glaswegian twee-pop band Belle and Sebastian: "Anything's better than posh isolation." His oeuvre has ranged from the absurdist power electronics/performance art of Damien Dubrovnik to faithful new wave in Lust for Youth. Guiding all of Rahbek's disparate work is an inquiry into what might constitute the underground music of today.

Full Review >>

Isa, as a given name, is a bit difficult to translate definitively. In the Qur'an, it's the name used to refer to Jesus Christ. Western theologists, puzzled by the discrepancies between "Jesus" and "Isa," have long argued over the name's origins--perhaps it was a misinterpretation of Esau, the scorned son who was tricked out of his father's blessing.

Full Review >>