The hype that Elektragaaz has been getting in the press recently is nothing to shake a stick at, and for those of us who keep up with the underground element in music, it’s deserving of some additional chatter even beyond what we’ve been seeing in 2022 thus far. Elektragaaz brings some striking charisma into the electronica scene of the present without owing something to a culture of insularity much as their competitors do, and in the single “Armadas of the Milky Way,” they’re demonstrating an affinity for themes that were previously reserved – and preserved, to some extent – within the annals of true rock n’ roll history.
Although I’m not going to say that Elektragaaz was trying to make a Pink Floyd song here, they’re wearing their ‘70s influences on their sleeve when it comes to the construction of both the hook and the lyrical framework in “Armadas of the Milky Way.” King Crimson and Floyd definitely set up a blueprint for the way this piece finds its climax, but there’s a much more cerebral component to the electronic instrumentation in this release than what we would find in a more purely guitar-driven work.
Tonal communication is the name of the game in this song, and whether you go for something on the muscular side or not, there’s no denying the way “Armadas of the Milky Way” can reach through the speakers and grab onto whoever happens to be within earshot of its melodies. There’s a gentle rumble to the percussive element that is almost ominous in the way it rips apart the bottom-end of this single without us ever being prepared for it, and yet to say that negativity is a component of the mood here would be admitting to listening to an entirely different song by an entirely different act.
Armadas of the Milky Way
Listen to Armadas of the Milky Way on Spotify. Elektragaaz · Song · 2022.
This master mix has got to be one of the tightest that I’ve listened to in the last month, but that isn’t really saying much when you think about how loose most of the arrangements in electronica and indie rock have been in recent times. Elektragaaz don’t have time for that kind of dribble here, and whether you find their compacted grooves to be the assaultive feature they should be or not, you can’t evade the monstrous tone and texture that’s pushing every one of the lyrics in “Armadas of the Milky Way” forward. They compensate for a lack of lyrics perfectly, making them obsolete before we ever get the chance to consider them.
This is a great time to get into Elektragaaz, as if they continue to get the appreciation they have been from the media and fans, they’re going to be drifting out of the underground and over to the mainstream market before a lot of their peers ever get the chance to be heard by a mass audience. “Armadas of the Milky Way” is a convincing performance that has me and a lot of others ready to hear what else this act can do, and I highly doubt we’ve heard anything close to their peek thus far.
Clay Burton