Velcro One - "Amateur Loops"
(Datawaslost Recordings 2001, CDEP)
Velcro One - "Amateur Loops"
(Datawaslost Recordings 2001, CDEP)
From Aural Innovations #18 (January 2002)
Velcro One is a solo project from Cincinnati, Ohio musician Tim Heyl. The promo sheet describes the music as "neu-folk", an offbeat mixture of acoustic folk and modern indiepop. Cited influences include Syd Barrett, Bob Dylan, and Beck, and Heyl is also a member of a noise-rock band called SwissFarlo. Amateur Loops features 6 songs over a mere 15 minutes. The songs all fall in the lo-fi acoustic realm and indeed Heyl's influences are apparent. But what makes the music interesting is the guitar loops that give a freaky edge to what are otherwise simple songs. I suppose it's the Barrett inspiration coming through, but in any event Heyl has some good ideas and embellishes his songs nicely. Hell, I'd love to see all folk musicians and singer-songwriters inject a little of Heyl's trippy "neu" into their folk. Overall, reasonably good lo-fi songs that incorporate an experimental element to make them something a little different from the rest.
For more information you can visit the Datawaslost Records web site at: http://datawaslost.net/velcro1/. Contact via snail mail c/o Datawaslost; PO Box 19401; Cincinnati, OH 45219.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz