Vinyl LP pressing. Alan Palomo (fka Neon Indian) is making his return this year with the brand new album World of Hassle. As Neon Indian, Alan most recently released VEGA INTL. Night School in 2015 and Era Extraña in 2013. His 2009 debut record Psychic Chasms not only earned the musician a spot on numerous year-end lists, but assisted the forming of a genre that, though known by a few names now (hypnagogic pop, glo-fi, chillwave), summoned a very unique and specific electro-mangled sound. Palomo's World of Hassle is a Pynchonesque place, packed with characters and situations rendered in dreamily absurdist strokes-guerilla freedom fighters camped out in a Rainforest Cafe in "The Wailing Mall," a crumbling ex-pop star in "The Return of Mickey Milan," the Leisure Suit Larry-does-Ibiza fantasy of "Nudista Mundial '89" (featuring Mac DeMarco, who hosted some of the album's sessions in his home studio). It's parody, sure-of rock star ego trips, the mall-ification of America, and our own self-obsession, even on the brink of apocalypse-but it's also dead serious, the sound of history repeating itself as the Doomsday Clock clicks past it's Reagan-era maximum and nuclear anxiety comes back into style along with digital synthesizers and sax solos. The deeper it pulls you into it's own uncanny reality, the clearer it becomes how thin the borders are between Alan Palomo's World of Hassle and our own.
Alan Palomo's World of Hassle on vinyl is a fun, eccentric listen. The Pynchonesque storytelling and absurdist characters come through clearly, and tracks like Nudista Mundial '89 with Mac DeMarco add a playful edge. The pressing sounds solid, though a couple of moments feel a bit dense. It's a good pick for fans of Neon Indian and offbeat electro-pop, and the LP format suits the album's retro, satirical vibe nicely.
