The Helio Sequence

Good record labels aren’t perfect, but lately a couple "bastions of good tunes” have made strong cases that they’ve completely lost their minds. Last month Matador released Seachange’s Lay of the Land, making you wonder if there was a particularly contagious auditory virus making the rounds at the generally reliable label’s office. This week, indie haven Sub Pop dumps Helio Sequence on us with equally confounding results. Here we see a terribly cheesy electro-pop duo sounding like Perry Farrell without the drugs, and an unsettling fondness for the harmonica. Love, peace and understanding, etc. Right. Sure, it sounds elaborate and strikingly well-produced, but with doggerel like "Well we all get up and we all get down/and we all get stuck but we come around,” it also sounds like a car commercial.