"Digital Wounds" by Ishi

Ishi
Digital Wounds
(Internal Records)

There’s a couple ways to make it in the synthpop world but opening for New Order has to be one of the best ones. In Dallas, the sultry keyboardists of Ishi took the stage before the foremost alternative dancebeat progenitors performed at the Palladium Ballroom in 2012. Digital Wounds is their sophomore release and it does an admirable job of straddling the line between current trends and classic computerized

riffage.

Chillwave steps more and more to the forefront of synthesized melody. Though their new record may prove otherwise, it seems the popularity of Phoenix’s demonstrative melodies have given away to the understatement of Toro y Moi and Neon Indian. Ishi’s gifts lie mainly in their middle road approach. The tunes don’t all sound like the Portlandia theme song, nor do they conjure up sonics of

raver madness. “Touch the Future” and “Slowly but Surely” stand out as tracks worth reckoning with.