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In 2011, La Big Vic released Actually, a retro-futuristic avant-pop album playing skillfully with classical and experimental influences. In 2012, the Brooklyn trio — vocalist/violinist Emilie Friedlander, synth player/guitarist Toshio Masuda, and synth player Peter Pearson — re-contextualized the record on Dub the World!: Actually Revisited. Their sophomore album, Cold War, draws on the brilliance of those songs. In a sense, its seems they've taken the most vital aspects of dub — the visceral bass and enveloping beats — and treated them with forward-thinking art-first space and clarity ("Save the Ocean," "Cave Man"). Friedlander's deep, entrancing vocals are ever-present, and her soaring violin still shines on tracks like "Ave B," whereas "Nuclear Bomb" is loud and shoegaze-inflected. The album opens with Friedlander singing, "Now that we're underground. . . . ," but, like Actually, this is an essential LP not just to the underground, but to music in general. La Big Vic are true innovators.
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