Rollercoasterwater “Bog” (exclusive)

05 Nov 2014 — Henry Schiller

Rollercoasterwater’s “Bog” is hides avant-garde music, just barely, behind the driven rhythm of ready-to-dance electropop. The Los Angeles duo (Chuckie Behring and Robin Levy) claim Donkey King and salvia as influences, but instead of a Saturday afternoon in a freshmen dorm, the end result of this combo is a beautiful swirl of digitalized ambient and rhythm-smart pop. “Bog” is a delightfully prickly mess of grinding guitar and electronics; vocals that – like distant smoke signals – act as obscure hints towards language  as opposed to actual speech. This molten experimental structure is garnished with a quick-tempo handclapping rhythm – a noticeable departure from the unspoken rule that tone and melody rest on top of the beat, not the other way around.

Divorced from its athletic beat, “Bog” might be a somber piece of contemporary ambient music in the vein of work like Grouper or Julianna Barwick. But the cheerleader style rhythm work gives the track a more extroverted feel, almost to the point of "Bog" sounding like it could be a remix of itself. The track’s tonal and melodic structures are like a dense bog (I mean fog) that its beat must navigate, all while being clawed at and clasped after by wispy tentacles of vocals and grinding electronics. The influence of Gameboy music is palpable: the beat on "Bog" is sharp enough to be heard clearly over small speakers, and it is prickly enough for tiny ears to grab ahold of and stick to like it's warm, chewed up gum.

Listen to more from Rollercoasterwater here, and check out the exclusive premiere of “Bog” below: