Eyeliner
Luke Rowell plays under the moniker Disasteradio as well as Eyeliner. The insanely catchy New Zealand Synth-pop artist explores different themes with each of his band’s projects. Each group emphasizes kitsch in its own way. Disasteradio revels in synth-pop, chip-tune, comedic lo-fi and hi-NRG. Eyeliner explores smooth electronic mood music and vaporwave filled with irony and nostalgia.
The music produced under Disasteradio is fun and cheesy. The alien Gary Numan-esque, deadpan effect of delivery when singing many verses is robotically hypnotic. The energy in live performance and video is undeniably electric. The personas and skits that accompany the music demonstrate that Luke Rowell is a legendary showman. The music video work on songs like “No Pulse,” “Awesome Feelings,” and “Visions” superbly supports the music. Video makers Simon Ward, Kenny Smith, Don Booker and musician Luke Rowell are wizards. The music videos are mini-movies. They are strong stand-alone pieces on par with Spike Jonez and Michel Gondry. They complement the style of the music perfectly, and have truthfully created a whole world with their style of visual story telling.
While Disasteradio’s style is upbeat and danceable, Eyeliner is infinitely more laid-back electronica meant for relaxing. Vaporwave is hard to describe. The tempo is mellow, chill and slow, the beats soft and echoey. Vaporwave is both a music genre and a visual art, largely including gifs, videos, and digital art, but paintings as well. Aesthetics of the videos and paintings are bright pinks and purples, intentional glitches, the use of outdated technology and low-quality Chroma key effects. The increasingly popular genre has a quality similar to musac, elevator music, something you’d hear while on hold with the cable company, grocery store or shopping mall soundtracks - VHS home videos, MSDOS, and anything retro is king. The background music in a 1990’s anime romance such as Maison Ikoku or a cassette of K-mart shopping entertainment would fit right in. To perfectly simulate the ancient aesthetic is the highest form of art in the community. Neo classism and nostalgic popularity sometimes occur with global instabilities and societal anxieties about the present or future. French neoclassicists fantasized about the past during frightening revolution and change. Art deco looked to the past classics of Greek and Egyptian art as inspiration during WWI much as vaporwave looks to the 1980’s and 1990’s during the uncertainties of 20XXs. Some of this could explain the recent rash of movie remakes. Much as repetition of icons and images of the Virgin Mary remained artistically unchanged for hundreds of years, because any change would be too radical. This phenomenon may contribute to the recent popularity of artists such as Brett Hollis, Tim and Eric, Cousin Dan, Vektroid and Luxury Elite.
All of the bizarre qualities of this era are amplified, exaggerated, and celebrated.
And while many cheap examples of this genre will be produced with its current limelight, Luke Rowell has built a decades long career of producing quality. Eyeliner works within the aesthetic and creates complex and interesting sounds. They are surprisingly relaxing and have sharp titles jabbing at consumerist trends that have used the music as ‘musac.’
Eyeliner’s album “Buy Now” is a foray into the realm of vapor and chill wave. The album still has clunky elements from Disasteraido which give the songs a funky energy and life, but not the fully immersed smoothness of “High Fashion Mood Music.” “High Fashion,” sounds exactly like a shopping mall soundtrack but with masterful production. The awkward DIY quality of Disasteradio isn’t present and the cleaner sound may find a different audience. Rowell’s recent album “Sweatshop” is more mainstream and sharply intelligent. The song for which the album is named is dangerously political bittersweet.
Luke Rowell seems comfortable producing both genres. I encourage you to check out his music videos on YouTube, and listen to his music on Bandcamp. Stay tuned for more art and reviews @sharks_eat_meat .
Review by John Coulter
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