Ok, this one took me a while to get into, but better reviewed late than never. This disc is pretty good, but I wouldn’t call it the most original thing I have ever heard. From what little info I was able to gather on this CDR (which is now available as a cassette from Peasant Magik unless that too has gone out of print) this is Saudade’s first release. The sound is an amalgamation of styles that remind me heavily of earlier Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, and a dash of Mice Parade which are all among the better “pop” groups to come out in the past few years. The thing that strikes me about this disc is that while all of the individual tracks demonstrate some pretty strong songwriting and arranging skills (a few of these have really managed to get stuck in my head lately), on a whole the album seems almost like some really awesome mix tape containing a bunch of different bands rather than a cohesive work from an artist with a unique voice of his own. This is however a first release, and given that, I am sure this is someone that we are very likely to hear some really good things from in the future once this sound is more developed. This is a really good CDR/cassette considering that both of these are formats somewhat meant for limited consumption and impermanency, but I think the next one is going to be a little more on the mark. 7/10 -- Kevin Richards (18 March, 2009)