Silica Gel - Ballad Of You (CAM) 
Release Date: Out Now
South Korean outfit Silica Gel are new to me but based on this latest album I will be diving back for their earlier work. 'Ballad Of You' is the band's first release for three years and from electro bonkers opening track 'Dr. BOB' you know you're in for some kind of digital adventure. By contrast, 'Melatonin 88mg' starts out like a Nirvana track before descending into some sort of calculator malfunction jazz jam - yeah, it's that kind of album and they're that kind of band. The squealing jazz saxophone of 'Crybaby' introduces the kind of experience that Frank Zappa will be cheering on from his grave (or space capsule) while recent single 'Molecular Gastronomy' still sounds like a day at the park but only if the park is made of painted versions of your nightmares and constructed purely from binary code.
The nightmarish tones continue on 'Manphasisckzuck' which emerges into a dreamland full of laidback vocals and sprinkled electro magic. On 'You Just Wanna Have Fun' the band trick you with a three minute instrumental of someone noodling on the organ at a funeral home but then 'Crime Scene' follows on with an almost Hawaiian vibe underpinned by surf guitars and what sounds like a jew's harp. I love albums like this because there are surprises around every corner and a challenge for a writer to describe what on earth is going on here. Tracks like 'Metamorphosing', for example, match dreamy, almost crooning vocals with a melody that moves from scattered electro notes to full on Flaming Lips-esque wig outs.
The 80s inspired space-jam of 'Postpink' really ought to be the theme tune to some new Manga cartoon while 'Up Quark' takes us on another digital meander as the synths speak of a world we are yet to inhabit but the melodies are rooted in something more traditional and folk influenced. As we near the end, we get 'BIG VOID' delivered on a platter like a musical tasting plate featuring flavours from the Strokes, Elton John, and LCD Soundsystem which feel like they shouldn't work but the taste explosion is sensational. The album closes out on 'Accident', the kind of track that could soundtrack someone walking through downtown Chicago as the sun starts to rise and another day begins full of hope, fear and everything in between. It is hard to define or pigeon hole a band like Silica Gel but if you're bored of the same-old same-old then I'd recommend you give your ears a treat and dive on in - there's a lot to be excited about.
More information: https://www.instagram.com/silicagel.official/