Touted as “electronic music for the mind and body,” Knox Bronson’s Pop Down the Years features nine tracks of varying pop alchemy. The opening cut “Hey Little Earthgirl” sounds like the same sort of thing Freezepop has been doing for a few years now, with its vocoder-soaked vocals and cutesy-pie melody. On the other hand, “Old Man Cold Man” sounds like a hellish marriage of Leonard Cohen and something from the mind of Ed Wood. Indeed, how seriously are we to take these tunes when something like “3 Secends before Maia Smiled” sounds like some random New Age electronic CD got spun in a blender with Taco? “Take Me Down” sounds like a creepy old man coming on to a much younger girl, and those synthesized farts and burbles in the mix don’t help at all, nor do lyrics like “Making love all day on a sacred afternoon.” In fact, that creepy old guy persona imbues much of the work here, making the album more than a little uncomfortable. I’m sure that was unintentional, but it doesn’t make the listening any easier. (Tangerine Sky Interactive)
