Quite literally the last thing I picked up at a mad-dash shopping rampage at Rough Trade East last fall, Bibio's Ambivalence Avenue has quickly turned into one of my favorite new records. As I started thinking about how to describe this warped, weird masterpiece, almost every statement I could muster was possibly misleading and even more importantly, incomplete. It's not folk (although there are lovely pastoral moods and 12-string guitars throughout.) It's not electronica (unless you are a stickler for the label when samples and drum machines are about.) It's not folktronica (because that doesn't realize exist!) And that's just ruminations on the first track. By the time you get to the amazing single Jealous of Roses, Bibio has dipped into the funk to craft some 21st century dusty soul. Phew... five minutes in and it sounds like the kitchen sink has been thrown in. But the most important thing to note about Ambivalence Avenue is that it is not a clunky "some of everything" laptop jam: it's a fully realized set of songs with a full palette of sonic embellishment.
The closest cousin is Caribou's Andorra, which ran 60's psych-pop through a electronic filter to spectacular effect. (Melody Day, one of my Songs of The Decade, still stuns even after a few years.) But there's also hints of Beck and Bran Van 3000's joyful blending of styles (minus the larger-than-life personalities) and the Avalanches' ability to knit disparate sounds into a cohesive whole.
A dance mix with ambient interludes? A song-based techno compilation? Maybe one of the things I love about Bibio is that it's so undefinable. That's the kind of record I can listen to over and over.
Start with: Jealous Of Roses and try the title track for a calm meditation and crank it up with the 4AD-meets-big-beat Fire Ant.
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