Hacienda is the second full-length album from Expensive Looks, the moniker of New York musician/producer and recent transplant to San Francisco, Alec Feld.
Feld isn’t afraid to break the rules, and his sound is difficult to pin down. The record incorporates R&B, disco, house, 90s dance rock, and dream pop, but at the same time is none of those. It’s not quite synth-pop; not really techno, and not exactly electronica either. The one thing that ties everything together is its reference to The Hacienda, the infamous Manchester nightclub and the rave culture it inspired.
This isn’t merely nostalgia, but a reawakening and a re-imagining of a sound that is rooted in a legendary place and time. The song “I Can’t Resist” opens with a keyboard refrain that unmistakably echoes “Step On” by Happy Mondays, perhaps The Hacienda’s most notorious export. Add to that a tortured riff on Martha & the Vandellas’ “Jimmy Mack” and a hypnotic groove, and you’ve got a song that excites and bewilders and will surely keep you dancing.
Hacienda is an atmospheric and evocative record that can move you in many different ways at once. Keep an eye out for a third full-length album, Gran Turismo, to be released soon according to the Expensive Looks Facebook page. Until then, you can get Hacienda on his Bandcamp page as a digital download.