"Nothing is known about the New York artist or collective who record(s) under the Llips. moniker. Except for a recent collaboration with electro wunderkind Starfish Pool, this appears to be their first blip on the radar. With that, either it was extremely stupid of them to make their first release a limited vinyl-only one, or a stroke of genius, knowing what sort of hype might build up behind them.
Unalaska & The valley of 10.000 smokes is not so much a proper album as two meditative compositions. "The valley of 10.000 smokes" the less cohesive of the two, begins with a jumble of sounds, like alien transmissions, clanging and blipping away, while TV shows shot into outer space whiz by trailing doppler-effected voices. Worlds away, a machine-like guitar gets its wires tangled up with an ancient keyboard, producing a sound that's more stunted groove than tape loop. More guitar refrain and ambient sound accumulate, letting the listener in on the fact that these are nothing more than a handful of barely fleshed-out ideas tied together beautifully with fuzz and hum. "Unalaska" opens with chimming guitars and female vocals, equal parts Bj�rk and Liz Frazer, appearing from underneath a mist of smoldering electronics, before giving way to more buzzing guitar and lo-fi jungle beats. Let's hop that this is a brilliant, brief taste of what's to come from these enigmatic geniuses."
ALTERNATIVE PRESS issue 148 nov 2000. Jason Olariu 4/5