Internasjonal INTCD002 Mon, 20 Jun 2011.

Juno.com review:

"Here's an interesting proposition: a debut album from a hitherto unknown American producer on Prins Thomas' globally-focussed Internasjonal imprint. To say that Oregon-based musician Tridact has little previous pedigree, it's an impressive debut. Fusing fuzzy old analogue synths (think Stereolab or vintage kraut rock) with Balearic guitar flourishes, lazy disco grooves and sprightly electronic melodies, it's a jolly and at times utterly joyful set (see "J24 at Sunset", "Cold Star" and "Over The Clouds"). While comparisons can be made with, say, fellow American nu-Balearic twiddlers Windsurf or Hatchback, there's a freshness and rhythmic urgency that was lacking on those largely super laidback affairs. Well worth a listen."

Resident Advisor review:

"Prins Thomas reserves Full Pupp for the proggy, snaggletoothed disco from fellow Norwegians; the sound of sister hub Internasjonal, meanwhile, is more concise drifter's rock and coastal Californian fare. Consider it a kind of recovery rock for the night owl set, the balm for the after-burn. For the imprint's second full-length, Thomas turns to southern Oregonian Brandon Johnson to close the summer with a record of analogue constructs that will have fans of this stuff thinking fondly to the summer of oh eight, when similar LPs by Windsurf, Hatchback, and Lindstrom deluded many of us to believing we were in for a renaissance of these kind of sunny getaway jaunts. 

Tridact arrives amidst summer's quick fade, but it's the kind of seasonally-bound album that we just haven't seen so enough of this year. With Studio on what's increasingly looking like a permanent hiatus, Smalltown Supersound and Claremont 56 in relative silence and both PT and pal Lindstrom sucked into the black hole of the summer festival set, there seems to be a dearth of good beach-bum disco records this year (Terje's immaculate "Snooze 4 Love" an obvious exception). While Johnson's certainly not as sure-footed as those I've mentioned—he's accredited only with one previous song, compiled by both Ghostly International and Moongadget—his self-titled debut as Tridact mixes analogue sandy-toed AM gold pop with short boombox disco jams and top-down Balearic rock. 

"J24 at Sunset," for example, has all the thumb-pressed tension of a spring awaiting release, with a buoyant bass roll and simmery synth spots. With its hip-hop patter and dizzying synth waves, "One Wheel Race" takes the time to curve through series after series of interwoven melodies and detours, while with bed-head acoustic guitar strumming and astral blurts of synth, "Light Minute" sets out to capture in audio the very moment your evening shades from dusk to pitch dark. "Cold Star" takes this shift and, as the title indicates, separates you from your earthbound view, with its distant lunar melody in sharp contrast to the track's growing disco swagger. 

Another acoustic guitar-oriented stroll, "Sky Blue Dart" mines the sort of easy bliss you might have found in the Permanent Vacation camp a few years ago; "Time To Go" is sharper, not as red-eyed, a straightforward bit of star-dazed electro-disco that closes the album in as jumpy a mood as Johnson sets anywhere else here. It may arrive a little late to really quench our annual thirst for this brand of audio escapism, but Tridact is a promising debut for a virtual unknown; perhaps one last fond glimpse of a summer turning soon crisp and leaf littered."

Tridact - Tridact (Internasjonal 2011)

Available on the CD “Tridact” on Internasjonal
Cat. No. INTCD002
Release date: August 19, 2011

First Steps

Available on the CD “Tridact” and on the “Over the Clouds” 12” on Internasjonal
Cat. No. INTCD002
Cat. No. INTTRIDACT12
Release date: August 29, 2011

Light Minute

Heels in Sand

J24 at Sunset

Available on the CD “Tridact” and on the “One Wheel Race/Sky Blue Dart” 7” on Internasjonal
Cat. No. INTCD002
Cat. No. INTTRIDACT7
Release date: August 19, 2011

One Wheel Race

Here to There

New album “Unknown Planes” out now.

Electronic music producer in Southern Oregon. Label head at Raydiata Music. Past releases on Prins Thomas’ Internasjonal label and Moodgadget/Ghostly. Synth, sequencers, samplers, drum machines and rad obsolete junk.

Here to There

tridact