Hilotrons - Bella Simone

This band sure has climbed a very long way to be here today. In fact they’ve gone all the way from ‘pfft’ to ‘this band is so hot that I must tell you about them’. The story begins with Cokemachineglow.com where I read a review for their brand new album, Bella Simone. I can’t remember it but it must have been positive because I wrote it down as an album to get. Then my cousin raved to me about one of their songs and I obliged by listening to it. My response was that it was quite interesting, which as we all know is polite for ‘that was absolutely atrocious’. I just saw it as a barrage of wacky sounds thrown haphazardly together with absolutely no direction or purpose. Well while this experience may have delayed my acquisition of the album, thankfully it didn’t prevent it. Because when I put it on just a few days ago, I was amazed by just how good it was. It’s still a barrage of wacky sounds all haphazardly thrown together, but now I see direction, now I see melody, now I see a collection finely crafted songs that are just so fun to dance to. They describe their music as “A super-charged, super fun, sci fi adventure with monsters, robots and astroman”. Never have I heard a more accurate description of a band. The closest reference point I could come up with is The Furureheads and even that’s way off. You simply must hear to believe and I strongly encourage you do both. Down some red cordial and get ready for one very hyperactive listening experience.

Note: You may have noticed that I never actually mentioned the band’s name (or more likely you didn’t). Well that’s because I’m genuinely unsure of it. Their site and the album cover seem to suggest Hilotrons, whilst many other sites have them as Hi Lo Trons. I decided to let my trusty friend, Google, settle the debate. With an overwhelming victory of 10700 to 636, the winner was Hilotrons.

Look, Wow – What a perfect song with which to demonstrate the weirdness of this album. The more I listen to them, the more I get the feeling that their live show would be absolutely crazy.

Astroman – As I’ve gone through the album looking for songs to choose, I’ve come to realise that each has their own special sound which all combine to make a great album but wouldn’t really be appropriate here. And so I’m offering Astroman, the song I first heard and got turned off by. I’m still not convinced on it but I must admit, that’s one funky base line.