Isotope Soap

Reviews

Isotope Soap The Rise of the Centaur LP

Since their inception, Stockholm’s ISOTOPE SOAP has been a gift that keeps giving. Even though there is a whole genre based around ripping off DEVO—which I myself am guilty of—ISOTOPE SOAP finds the best parts of what makes that sound great, and just takes it in another direction of their own. The Rise of the Centaur has subtle nods to a wide array of genres like darkwave, power pop, and weird punk. I believe what makes this record great is the combination of all these style cues. There are many directions you can go with hysterical vocals, super-tight drumming, pounding bass, tastefully written synth melodies and guitar riffs…yet ISOTOPE SOAP takes a road of their own between the lines. It’s a great record from start to finish and definitely one that you wouldn’t want to miss out on.

Isotope Soap In Need of Systematic Entropy LP

The glorious synth freaks from Stockholm are back, and ISOTOPE SOAP has outdone themselves here. SPITS, TG, SCREAMERS, DEPARTMENT S vibes all collide with a heavy emphasis on bizarre structures and a timeless sound that refuses to fit in any decade past or present. If anything, In Need of Systematic Energy is slightly more accessible than some of their previous efforts (with a title track that belongs on every mixtape you make this year), but you still never know what to expect from one track to the next. Worth noting that RAPED TEENAGERS and PUSRAD personnel are behind this genius…which is not even remotely surprising.

Isotope Soap An Artifact of Insects 12″

Surreal synth-punk from Sweden that’s not as blatantly DEVO-core in its intentions as a lot of their recently devolved contemporaries, but I wouldn’t rule out a Booji Boy mask hiding in the back of one of their closets, either. The electronically altered vocals (sometimes high-pitched and robotic, sometimes deep and theatrical) and the general sinister sci-fi aesthetic clearly owe some debts to late-’70s/early-’80s San Francisco synth-wielders like the RESIDENTS and CHROME, except ISOTOPE SOAP is very much a product of the dystopian, technologically-addled hell that we’re currently living in and that those earlier bands could only speculate in their creative visions.