"Building on 2024’s Hopscotch Fever, Cincinnati’s Artificial Go return with ten more tracks of existential post-punk chamber pop. Recorded at Lambda Research and the haunted attic of the band’s house, the core trio of Angie Willcutt, Micah Wu, and Cole Gilfilen have traded the sparse jangle of their debut for a broader, fuller sound this time around. Musical Chairs deftly meshes the angular excitability of Hopscotch Fever with a spectral warmth and expensiveness able to encompass acoustic guitars, Wu’s almost metaphysical funk bass lines, tape loops and blips and bleeps, a guest spot by Eric Dietrich (of The Drin and Sorry Eric) on saxophone, and Gilfilen’s hip moving boom-bap drumming add to the excitement. What’s more, the band’s comfort with each other (they live together for chrissake) and growing confidence in their collaborative creative process is evident throughout. From the live-take 'Red Convertible' (with its layered recursive structure - the musical equivalent of a kid laughing and spinning in circles just for fun) to the lunch-break-composed and after-work-recorded 'Circles.'On Musical Chairs Artificial Go expands their stylistic palate while retaining the New / No / Whatever Wave weirdness that charmed listeners on their debut —a group effort to be sure, but spearheaded by Angie Willcutt’s singular voice and clever, adroit lyrics. In Willcutt’s hands, the struggles, and at times terrors, of our current age are playfully subverted with agile world play and dynamic vocalization that moves from sweet and dreamy to cartoonishly exaggerated as she charts an emotional course through such...
LP $21.95
05/16/2025
MP3 $7.99
05/16/2025
FLAC $8.99
05/16/2025
**Both Artificial Go LPs combined on one CD. On Hopscotch Fever Jacob Mouser wrote: "Consisting of eight tight tracks, this debut is just that: an introduction. A little bit mercurial, a little bit iconic. Artificial Go is operating out of their own genre—not quite post-punk, not quite pop. Hopscotch Fever seems to have been recorded just outside of the collective-genre-periphery to form some sort of extraterrestrial kind of music. With angular guitar breaks, bouncing rhythms, and jolting vocals, Artificial Go is truly here on their own terms." And Ben Michaels said about Musical Chairs: "Recorded at Lambda Research and the haunted attic of the band’s house, the core trio of Angie Willcutt, Micah Wu, and Cole Gilfilen have traded the sparse jangle of their debut for a broader, fuller sound this time around. Musical Chairs deftly meshes the angular excitability of Hopscotch Fever with a spectral warmth and expensiveness able to encompass acoustic guitars, Wu’s almost metaphysical funk bass lines, tape loops and blips and bleeps, a guest spot by Eric Dietrich (of The Drin and Sorry Eric) on saxophone, and Gilfilen’s hip moving boom-bap drumming add to the excitement. What’s more, the band’s comfort with each other (they live together for chrissake) and growing confidence in their collaborative creative process is evident throughout."
CD $16.00
05/16/2025
***"Artificial Go is a new four piece hailing from the DIY post-punk scene of Cincinnati, Ohio. Local labels Feel It and Future Shock have teamed up to co-release Artificial Go's debut album, Hopscotch Fever. Consisting of eight tight tracks, this debut is just that: an introduction. A little bit mercurial, a little bit iconic. Artificial Go is operating out of their own genre - not quite post-punk, not quite pop. Hopscotch Fever seems to have been recorded just outside of the collective-genre-periphery to form some sort of extraterrestrial kind of music. With angular guitar breaks, bouncing rhythms, and jolting vocals, Artificial Go is truly here on their own terms."—Jacob Mouser
LP $21.95
09/27/2024
MP3 $6.99
09/27/2024
FLAC $7.99
09/27/2024