Labels: Astralwerks
Review by: Mike Whelan
Alpinestars are a Manchester based 2-piece who play a sort of electronica-meets-indie/rock that reminds me of New Order or a less-dancy Daft Punk.
Although the electronic sound usually holds little interest for me, Alpinestars write tunes good enough to make me want to listen to them again and again. Opener “Snow Patrol’ is one such track, a melodic, focused song with the catchy “Snow Patrol “¦ save your soul” chanted over the top of a nice tune. “Hotel Parallel’ is another great song, sounding a little like the Stone Roses meeting Kraftwerk – probably one of my favourite tracks on the album. A couple of the tracks reminded me of something that The Appleseed Cast might have put onto their relatively recent Low Level Owl series. Having said this, I doubt that Alpinestars were influenced by The Appleseed Cast, I’m probably just clutching at my semi-emo straws to look for a reference that will pique the interest of the average Collective reader. In other words, don’t buy this album expecting Low Level Owl volume 3, because you will be disappointed.
“Carbon Kid,’ a single released from the album, features Placebo’s Brian Molko on vocals, and will probably draw more attention than any other track. But there is enough strength among the other tracks on White Noise to prove that this is not just an album that mixes seven or eight average tracks with two or three good ones. Most tracks stand out as solid pieces of work.
The overall mellow effect does begin to get a little tiresome toward the end, I found myself waiting for the album to “take off’ all the way through. It is definitely an album for fans of the genre, and if you enjoy listening to Kraftwerk or Daft Punk or nearly any euro-synthesised acts then you’ll probably find this album very good, the mix of electronica styles and old Madchester style vocals is very interesting and original.