Helio Sequence, Young Effectuals (Cavity Search) 9
The Helio Sequence are a Portland, OR duo who's 2000 debut, Com Plex rivaled some of the best trippy space rock coming out of Japan. With a slew of keyboards, the band took the sounds of early Jessamine and Stereolab and elevated them somewhere in the vicinity of Saturn's rings. Young Effectuals makes progress in creating memorable songs with more distinct vocals (though they are still fairly buried in the complex, trebly mix). "Give, Give, Give" is particularly stunning, with a chorus that recalls The Chemical Brothers' "Setting Son," before drowning in a swirling pool of whirring keyboards. "[Square] Bubbles" ups the intensity with the gauzian blur of My Bloody Valentine guitars that soon segue into an electronic jungle of organs and shouted lyrics, like Chrome's Helios Creed fronting a souped-up Hawkwind. Hey, he actually did front a souped-up Hawkwind around '93! And I saw it, woo hoo! Thanks to The Helio Sequence, we get to find out the destination of such a dream team. Nice, noisy psychedelia.
