On
Mad Flavor,
Lida Husik scales back on the futuristic guise of
Faith in Space without scaling back on the electronic underpinnings of the music itself. The hip, girly persona of old is back in tow to a certain degree, albeit tinged with a palpable melancholy, a seeming imperative (or perhaps an inevitable byproduct) in music that looks toward the technological future. Producers Charles Bennington and Geoff Turner sound like they are having a good time pressing all manner of buttons, as spacy, oscillating sounds and beatbox rhythm loops blip and dart through the song melodies, but even amid the computerized music, there are more tribal percussive beats, deep noir basslines, and dub-like production values in songs such as "Glo Stick" and "State of the Empire." And though there are songs that hint at spacy remoteness ("Jupiterstar"), the music is toasty and flirtatious.
Husik sounds detached but not distanced, the music spacious without being cold, much more late-night headphone music than late-night dancefloor soundtrack. And on the twittering, space-age girl-group singalong, "Cactus Garden Days,"
Husik perfectly marries kaleidoscopic '60s pop with 21st century-worthy beat pulsations. By pulling back slightly,
Mad Flavor is even more far-out into the reverberating hushed expanses of space, with two feet flung into the future. ~ Stanton Swihart