Family Average: 3/7

We are beginning our space trip folks. Switch your television sets to channel 11 and clip on your official Space Kiddettes team members helmets. The journey has begun. Electronic hypnotic Texas duo Space Kiddettes is here with an all new work of musical wonders. It is called Domestic Adventures. Kind of like when you leave your room for the first time in days to make a peanut butter sandwich. It kind of feels like exploring a magical far away planet where nobody does the dishes.

Find out what we thought below!

Space Kiddettes painted some heavy beats with pastel bubble gum.

At first I was a bit bothered with the noise on the first track.

“Process Ü” I definitely liked more. This is when the beat started to catch my attention. A lot.

The vocals I was still trying to warm up too but they were growing on me.

I like the beats, they funky

“Plain” i liked everything, good heavy funky beat, and the voices compliment it and each other nicely.

I liked the colors this one produced in my mind.

4/7

With Domestic Adventures, Space Kiddettes cultivate an environment that evokes surrealist 90’s cyber sci-fi. The combination of synth, chiptunes, and vocals collaborate to give the album that cheesy but still endearing aesthetic. They play around with a lot of different facets of it too, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by their artistic choices more than once.I wasn’t expecting vocals to show up, but they lent themself well to wherever they were placed. The vocalists themselves were solid, but nothing outstanding. And I did appreciate the changeups in mood, cadence, and delivery. “Square” is a decent start. I can’t pinpoint where the audio sample is from, other than the credit of “Coyote Bloodbath.” I don’t really know if it was needed though, it felt a bit shoehorned cause it didn’t fit with the rest of the album. I know “Process U” also does sound samples of what sounds like arcade games, but it makes more sense in its context rather than the other voiceover work. This song was interesting to me cause you start to see there’s some kind of fictional conflict addressed by it. The album builds up this particular narrative/world in which it exists, which serve as a setting for the lyrics of the songs. Kind of like how Porter Robinson’s Worlds fabricates a techno fantasy that serves as an extended metaphor. In this particular case though they’re more surface level. The lyrics are quirky and sometimes have a clever line here and there, but I feel like they try to be deeper than they are.

The album had a bit of a dry spell with the aptly named “Plain.” The key was deeper and the vocals were smoother, but in losing its edge it lost what made it interesting. The song kinda dragged on after a while. “Outrun” makes up for it though with its energy. I think “Outrun” was my favorite too. The title fits well, as the song has that driving, energetic feeling of freedom and defiance. The rap in the middle was unexpected but not unwelcome. “Low Impact Aerobics” slows it down a bit again, and put me in mind of a space synth disco. Finally, “Crash and Burn” finishes the album off with yet another variation . Of all the others, this one’s music the most like it would appear in a video game. Maybe an old Ace Attorney one. It feels nice though. It’s loud and messy but retains cohesion. It seems like each song experiments with a different facet of synth pop so there’s at least. The vocals could still use some work, maybe made a bit smoother. Other than those things, far so good for this group of cadets. If they keep experimenting, I’m sure they’ll be able to find a sound they can uniquely call theirs.

4/7

Space Kiddetts are the cyberpunk quilt we all need in our homes. Bringing in the passion and dreamy vibes in a big way. For sure they are a glittery synth pop outfit, but there is this underlying girt. The kind of sound that comes from acts like Gravy Train, and Suicide.

This is what keeps my energy high while bopping to this album. That being said I was a little put off from the inconsistency. Though a short album/EP is a great place to flex the different capabilities of a group I felt the disparities between the tracks are a little too much. Each of the different avenues explored were done well, that being said I never got a firm grasp on who the band was on a whole.

The stand out track for me is Process Ü. It has a shimmering light that cuts my head in half allowing thousands of happy inchworms to march forward. Also they include that street fighter sample thing, and although it has been overdone in recent times I am always happy to see it pop up.

Keep kicking it my cyber cowboys.

4/7

Its very safe to say that I would never listen to this album ever again. Nothing really reaches out to me to keep me listening. The band has achieved vanilla.  The lyrics are just a constant stream of nonsense; it's just like “hey i'll say anything, fuck it. This will be cool.” Well to me, it's not very cool. To someone on out there it probably will be and I bless their overt ignorance. I say this because themes presented in the lyrics warrant an eye roll at best, there is nothing really to take away from the message. There are some cool works of audio engineering here, like pitch decaying vocal chops in the second track. That was pretty interesting to me. By the way the full moon would change the tide.  

2/7

Before I even read the title of the song "Low-Impact Aerobics," I had visions of an 80s work out class, complete with high cut leotards and sweatbands. There were also tons of neon geometric shapes pulsating, lasers, plus a Pac Man and Frogger.

This is just straight up electric dance pop with a heavy, heavy 80s synth influence. I kind of feel like if the members of Human League were dead they'd all be rolling in their graves..but also that they'd kind of be into it...? I also think the Space Kiddettes would probably appreciate their forefathers disdain.

I don't know. I was initially turned off but somehow I descended into their synthy world and it grew on me. It feels confident and yet erratic. There's something sort of tongue-in-cheek and sardonic about them; it feels kind of cheesy and unrefined, but also extremely self-aware. It's definitely an underground sound and won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I appreciate the retro revival.

3/7