Humans After All

Electronic music gets a bad rap for the most part from spikey-haired DJs and stringy hipsters who think strange noises equal high-quality music.  Local Chicago act Walter Meego takes away all those bad stereotypes of electronic music and replaces them with a unified confidence in synthizers and turntables.  Conceived while they were both attending University of Illinois Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck combined their love for 90s pop, jazz, and modern electronic. The best thing about it: they’re much more than the typical electronic band.  Yes, they do take influence from Daft Punk, as most do, yet they attach so many more elements to create something novel and refreshing in the digital scene.

With all the laptop goodness that made Walter Meego popular on their home turf, inaugural long player Voyager is both entertaining and musically worthwhile.  When they sing about doing everything for ‘Girls’ the act doesn’t seem like a bad thing whatsoever.  Between Sconza’s guitar and Yarck’s beats it erupts with such sprightliness that music snobs and danceaholics alike can appreciate.  ’Keyhole’ takes a similar approach to the electronic genre, but combines it with a distorted piano part and some of Yarck’s signature beats to make a great track about heartache.  Sconza’s lyrics, though they are simple in structure, fit extremely well with the mellow tempo of the piano part and the guitar solo within - although it somewhat takes the guitar part from Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’ - creating a finicky contrast.

Walter Meego’s musical innovation throughout Voyager is impressive.  It does rely heavily on electronic rock masters, but they manage to make audiences forget that with their vivacity for the art form.  ’Your Love’ is familiar to our ears but Sconza and Yarck add their personal influences to it to make something more modern.  They decide not to delve into the “robot rock” phase that’s permeating through the genre and instead put a more human aspect on the electronic genre.  It makes Voyager the perfect first album; great already but still some room to grow.

Amy Dittmeier