Dec 9, 2008 3:58 PM

I’m usually not one to dig through the electro-pop bin to find a lost gem, but when I first listened to Richard Morel’s latest, the self-produced The Death of the Paperboy, the volume level kept going up—I was hooked; each track was better than the last. Cascading between ethereal (what I call bathtub music) and harder-edged rock/electronica, each track slips seamlessly into the next, to the point where I was surprised that the CD had come to its end and I immediately pressed Play. With each consecutive listen, I kept finding new elements in the mix: a cymbal crash here, an interesting lyric there. And that was just with Disc One! Disc Two, or Disc O, focuses more on Morel’s electronica side, with eight Pink Noise (Morel’s electronic-music producer alias) remixes of select songs from Disc One, programmed as a non-stop DJ mix. Also on “O” is an interesting interpretation of David Bowie’s “Sweet Thing.” I’m not that into electronica music, so I mostly kept my ears tuned to Disc One, but there are some interesting beat mixups on Disc Two that should keep any DJ on his/her toes. An interesting collection, to be sure.

Must Plays: “Still Born” and “Anymore, Anymore”

No additional credits provided.

—Sarah Benzuly

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