Misra Records
2005
Bluffer's Guide To The Flight Deck
About This Album
Granddaddy, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, and the Flaming Lips are all names that will be inevitably dropped when trying to describe the elegant space pop that emanates from this frustratingly inventive/derivative London collective. Flotation Toy Warning -- they will come to regret that name -- are so intent on shrouding themselves in mystery that it often overshadows the material. While their murky biography aims for a Decemberists' level of dubious achievement (arctic explorers, failed inventors, and flying machine test pilots), the music itself is highly melodic, occasionally uplifting, and alarmingly easy to digest -- for all of their talk about "a soundtrack created from previously unknown instruments," Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck sticks to the teeth like peanut brittle. Like the Lips, FTW craft warm and humane sounding confections out of electronic mediums, a feat that's accomplished to perfection early on with "Happy 13." It's an instantly contagious fusion of Stereolab minimalism and Polyphonic Spree grandeur with a keyboard line that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Air's Moon Safari. What sets the band apart from all of its obvious influences are the vocals.
Track List (try tracks 1,2 and 4)

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