Dokkemand

Norway's Dokkemand (a.k.a. Marius Grotterud Egenes) has lamely been dubbed with the "folktronica" label, and this sucks hard, not only because musical labels are quite lame (don't you agree?), but also because he's so much more. Just because the Norwegian music nerd uses some real instrumentation (like the acoustic guitar disco strummings on the stunning opener "Kanaria") in his experimental electronic mini-dreamscapes and nightmares, does that mean we need to throw the word "folk" in there? Or even worse, "tronica"? Leave that term with The Prodigy because Dokkemand is the new shit, straight from his bedroom. There's nothing terribly danceable on Hons!, and many of the tracks are quite experimental, mysterious, annoying and twitchy, so don't come looking for memorable chorus lines (though there are a handful of featured female vocalists here) or straight-up melodies. But listen for sounds from a swamp full of robot frogs and other gurgling reptiles, video game-styled bleeps and beats and a rare warmth that hugs the whole album.

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