sha v 4.0

Topu Lyo, an old friend of mine, recently sent me a copy of his band’s new self-titled debut CD, Live Footage. (Full disclosure: he sent the CD to me for free and asked me to review it here.) I have to admit that I felt some amount of apprehension before listening to it, because I was worried I wouldn’t like it. This isn’t because I thought it would be bad, I just had no idea what kind of music it was. What would I say if I didn’t like it? Should I lie? Should I be brutally honest? Should I say it got lost in the mail? So it was a few days after receiving the CD before I actually sat down to listen to it, and I found it impossible not to like. Honest.

Live Footage consists of Topu on electric cello, and Mike Theis on drums and synth, but if you close your eyes, you would swear that there were more members of the band. Topu makes extensive use of live looping on his cello, so many of the songs start with a small riff or melody which he loops, then adds to it more and more, with each loop building on the last. Two of my favorite tracks, “1976 Part I”, and “Freedom Happening”, both have beautiful cello melodies where Topu is essentially accompanying himself, which I thought was very cool. Lest you think this is the result of recording studio trickery, I recommend checking out the videos on their site for a live demo.

iTunes puts Live Footage into the “Electronic” genre, but don’t let that scare you off; I suspect it’s because there isn’t a genre around that really fits the band. It certainly isn’t what I think of when I think of “Electronic” music, at least. So if you’re looking for some new and interesting music, give Live Footage a try; they may surprise you.

Buy “Live Footage” on iTunes