Eltro is a group from Philadelphia specializing in a drowsy, dreamy, pop-drone hybrid sound. They have four members -- vocals/bass, guitar/electronics, drums, and keyboards. Information Changer has seven tracks, clocking in at 51:36 total, and each track has its own specific variation on their basic sound: track 1 has jaunty electronics in a vamp that doesn't seem to go anywhere; track 2, "Grand Canyon." is down-tempo with, some nice early Seefeel-style guitar drones; and track 3 has some medium tempo funky drum machine electronics action, with vocals put through a Mutron or something of that nature. For whatever reason, I'm not really down with it. Track 4, "To the Side," is more straightforwardly a song, with plaintive minor key guitar work; track 5 has some fuzzy guitar work and repeated murmurs of the title, "Orangina"; track 6 is a dirge. The 14-minute closing track, "I Begin to Believe," has some nice bass and clean guitar parts, and the time wears well. Overall, this album has many good aspects, and I do like some of the tracks, but I feel that it could be better. The electronics on a few of the tracks are a little too intrusive, the vocals a little too bland, the parts a little too repetitive, the tempos uniformly somnambulant. I normally enjoy this droney type of stuff, but for some reason this just doesn't do it for me. I'm sure that some will thoroughly enjoy the album, however, so I would recommend downloading an MP3 to check it out if you think it might be up your alley. (CP)
(Absolutely Kosher -- 1412 10th Street, Berkeley, CA. 94710-1512; http://www.absolutelykosher.com/; Eltro -- http://www.eltro.net/)