CASSETTE REVIEW: Los Angeles Police Department “Los Angeles Police Department” (Chill Mega Chill)

https://chillmegachill.bandcamp.com/album/los-angeles-police-department

            First and foremost, I love the idea of an artist named Los Angeles Police Department because you can shorten it to LAPD and everyone will still get the reference.   Not that long after this album came out (and it was heavily promoted on Bandcamp as well) I saw something on Facebook about how Los Angeles Police Department was trending.   But yeah, it was not the musical artist but rather the boys in blue from California.    That’s just one example of the cleverness behind the name.

            I also need to mention that the cassette version (which I listened to for the review) is available through Chill Mega Chill, whom I love, but this album is also available on vinyl from Forged Artifacts, whom I also love.   So even though I am reviewing this as a cassette, yeah, I probably will end up buying the record from Forged Artifacts ultimately as well and I recommend that you do the same.

            While I could listen to any number of new music releases that came out last year or this year, maybe even back to 2012, and compare them with this self-titled effort from LAPD, the fact is that those would only be one piece of the puzzle.   If nothing else, this cassette makes a lot of the music that I used to review using Spotify seem so one dimensional.   In its lo-fi yet poppy kind of folk way it reminds me of Frightened Rabbit, yet there is just so much more to it still. 

            Through the upbeat qualities of a Phantom Planet, The Pale Pacific, The Rocket Summer, The Stereo, Weezer, etc., there are also hints of Flaming Lips, Langhorne Slim, some Gotye, EFS and even Daniel Johnston.   The best way to perhaps describe the music style of this particular cassette though is that it is easily from an era when The Militia Group was releasing solid album after solid album.   This was in the days when The Rocket Summer had their first album out, but then also The Beautiful Mistake, Noise Ratchet, The Lyndsay Diaries and others were helping The Militia Group to become one of my favorite labels.  (Though now I have no idea what their roster of artists looks like or if they even still exist) 

            Multi-dimensional and full of aspects you will not hear on the first listen, I do believe that listening to this on other formats will add additional layers to the overall experience but as far as cassettes go this is right up there amongst the best because great music can shine no matter what format it is released upon.