The first full-length album from Brooklyn four-piece Chappo, 2012's Moonwater features more of the four-piece's driving, if still loopy, hippie-gone-post-punk sound. Showcasing lead singer/songwriter Alex Chappo's trebly, yearning vocals and passionate, quirky songs, Moonwater is a melodic, rhythmically infectious album that delivers a bit more than it promises at first blanch. Generally speaking, Chappo's sanguine electric and synth-driven rock sound sort of splits the difference between the more arch '80s vibe of Interpol ...
Read More
The first full-length album from Brooklyn four-piece Chappo, 2012's Moonwater features more of the four-piece's driving, if still loopy, hippie-gone-post-punk sound. Showcasing lead singer/songwriter Alex Chappo's trebly, yearning vocals and passionate, quirky songs, Moonwater is a melodic, rhythmically infectious album that delivers a bit more than it promises at first blanch. Generally speaking, Chappo's sanguine electric and synth-driven rock sound sort of splits the difference between the more arch '80s vibe of Interpol and the Technicolor alt-rock of the Flaming Lips. In that sense, the band should also draw favorable comparisons to such similarly inclined contemporaries as Fires of Rome, MGMT, and Klaxons. Tracks like the buzzy, messy funk of "Come Home" and the bluesy "5-0" are rambling, deliriously infectious '90s throwback numbers that evince a kind of lo-fi psych-pop take on Primal Scream. Similarly, the grungy, bass-heavy rave-up "Explode" and the slacker hip-hop meets disco dance-rock of "Hell No" are alt-dance club hits waiting to happen, and reveal Chappo's buoyant sense of "rawking" fun. Ultimately, Moonwater is a truckload of dance-rock hippie moonshine that's impossible to turn down from the first swig on. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi
Read Less
