Album Review: Beat Connection - The Palace Garden

Beat Connection
The Palace Garden
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Someone must not have told Seattle electro-poppers Beat Connection that Seattle is grey and rainy, what with their collection of bright, sun-kissed pop confections that have far more in common with summer days spent at some fabulous Mediterranean resort than with the rain soaked plaidness of their city. Taking equal parts Friendly Fires, Cut Copy, Tough Alliance, and even Foster the People, Beat Connection have crafted a pretty savvy debut that expertly rides the line between pop experimentation and pop mainstream, presenting a deliriously sunny set of tracks that are the perfect soundtrack for beaches and picnics everywhere.

Opening with the gorgeous analog bubblebath of "New Criteria," it is apparent from the beginning of The Palace Garden that this is not going to be a gloomy affair, with waves of warm synths caressing your ears before swooning into the glorious title track, a wonderful slab of Balearic dance pop.



The percussion heavy "Saola" buoys sparkling synths and horns and gets more infectious with each spin.



"Further Out" builds into a heavily Caribbean accented rave up.



"Sometimes Wonder" swirls against its bright four to the floor rhythm.



While closing track, and album highlight "En Route" shows how Beat Connection can easily merge their pop/experimental leanings into something close to perfect.


There are more experimental leaning tracks that, while usually something I look forward to on a record, do tend to take the focus away from the task at hand. "Invisible Cities," which is a lovely reggae tinged number with some lovely harmonies, tends to slow the pace of the record a bit,



as do tracks in the middle of the record, like the droning "Trap House" and the repetitive "Think/Feel," which glides along nicely but never really makes much of a lasting impression.



Aside from this mid-album slow down and a couple of interesting but forgettable instrumental interludes, The Palace Garden is a very solid debut from this Seattle quartet. Funny how, in contrast to my usual predilections, I was more drawn to their poppier songs. They seem to flourish more when they just let go and not try to be so serious. Here is hoping they continue down that sun blessed path.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.