The Vitals:

Label: Indie
Genre: Various
Number of Tracks: 12
How to Obtain: www.sheltershed.com

Factor Scores:

Production Quality: 7.3
Programming and Arrangement: 5.5
Entertainment Quality: 7.5
Total: 6.8 – Above Average

Bill's Take:

I'm impressed with the progress that the Sheltershed guys have made on this latest offering. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I've been listening to Sheltershed all week. However, Motor Club has some problems that make it sound pretty amateur. It's not consistently cohesive, as both the individual tracks and the album as a whole tend to feel a bit random in the arrangements. Too often, random sounds seem to pop in abruptly at obscure times or for odd amounts of time.

This is a problem on a larger scale too, as some tracks don't seem to fit the overall flow of the project. I kind of got the feeling that the producers haven't mastered the art of subtlety when it comes to applying a really cool sound to a song, and a cool song to an album.

In my opinion, the most frustrating thing about the project, however, is that some of the solid song concepts attempted on the album are, at least in part, poorly executed. The first track on the album is a great example of this, as the overly clanky and abrasive application of the song's parts rob the track of its intended energy. Instead of a semi-dark, peak-hour Florida breakbeat, the end product was pushed over the edge, winding up as being just semi-annoying. For this song in particular, I would have suggested a more melodic bassline, or at least something a little more organic to counterbalance all the dark electro clanky madness. As it is, I kept wanting to bob my head to that song, but the abrasiveness wouldn't let it loop me out. It reminds me of clanging metal.

Now, with all that said, let me also say this: In at least a couple of ways, this album is a huge breath of fresh air. First and foremost for me is that it has some old-school influences in the most awesome of ways. The songs are constructed in such a way that they actually take you somewhere outside of the now uber-typical "check out my perfectly produced orchestration" modus operandi. Don't get me wrong. It's hard not to appreciate how awesome dance music producers have become at their craft over the last few years, but lately the music is all about perfect full sound. The days of raves, raw energy, and true musical journey are long gone.

Motor Club totally reminds me of the EDM from back around 1994-95 in this way. It's not perfect. It's far from it, but dang it if it doesn't suck me right in at times and make me start to get lost in its unpredictable turns. I think that some of the hooks that the guys use on the album are plain awesome (even if they aren't always used perfectly), and there are moments on the disc where I thought to myself, "Man, I would have loved to have seen these guys perform this song live at Fusion." I also like how some of those moments remind me of some of my favorite old-school music, like Uberzone's Moondust EP. There's a nice inclusion of vocoded vocal samples, a tiny touch of that 1996 Josh Wink acid tweakiness, and plenty of other stuff that today's producers shouldn't have abandoned.

I should say that I don't intend to describe Motor Club as a retro album, because it absolutely isn't. It has plenty of attributes that make it unmistakably 2008, but to my pleasant surprise, it seems that, unlike most current day producers, Sheltershed has decided to embrace the best of the past while making the music of the future. Now honestly, they've got a good ways to go if they want to be considered master-craftsmen, or if they even want to make a real impact artistically. However, for the first time, I see a spark flickering, and I think the light is coming on. I'm actually wondering if perhaps they might soon find markable success as an electronic "jam band" of sorts, or maybe one of the rare artists who makes music for those who still actually want to dance to EDM that they can throw their hands up to and get lost in (rather than the oversexed, cheesy, or snobby stuff that's dominating clubs of late). For a guy like me, raised on Lynyrd Skynyrd and Chemical Brothers, that would be just fine. I definitely recommend all you tasty people check this one out.