angel milk

telepopmusik

capitol records, 2005

Mood—Quiet, rainy, sleepy, and introspective.

Sample: "Don't Look Back"

Thoughts— It took me a long time to warm up to the first Telepopmusik album, Genetic World, despite the standout tracks "Breathe" and "Smile". I feel like it had something to do with the band name... sounded maybe a bit to generically "euro" for me.

Of course, once I let it soak in, Genetic World became a favorite. It was four years before their sophomore album Angel Milk came out, and I had consequently lost track of them. I was pleasantly surprised to see their unfortunate name on record store shelves again and immediately picked this one up.

Angel Milk definitely different than their first album in ever way you'd expect it to be: a more mature, cohesive collection of songs, exploring themes that were just grazed the first time around. Thanks especially to the uniquely raspy jazz-club vocals of Angela McCluskey, Angel Milk is a stunning and somber journey.

The album isn't perfect, however. I'm not entirely fond of talk-rap stylings of Mau, found on "Last Train To Wherever" and "Hollywood On My Toothpaste", and the last track, "15 Minutes", is as long as the name implies with absolutely no payoff at the end. In fact, the last two tracks are essentially worthless. The strenghts of the rest, however, more than make up for this strangely unsatisfying finale.

Recommended? Yes.

Link—myspace.com/telepopmusiktm

Tracklist
1. Don't Look Back
2. Stop Running Away
3. Anyway
4. Into Everything
5. Love's Almighty
6. Last Train To Wherever
7. Brighton Beach
8. Close
9. Swamp
10. Nothing's Burning
11. Ambushed
12. Hollywood On My Toothpaste
13. Tuesday
14. Another Day
15. 15 Minutes