The first example of a Rollerwave album I’m posting here is one you likely haven’t heard of before. Billy From Electronics is a modest, unassuming outfit. While the mysterious entities behind it might not refer to what they produce as Rollerwave, the end result undeniably brings to mind images which far predate the 1980s. Whether this effect is intentional, I can’t say. regardless, plenty of albums (Boards Of Canada in particular) have been retrospectively labeled Rollerwave, so I think it’s only fitting to call Billy that.
This is a masterfully executed concept album which proves that even niche microgenres such as Rollerwave can have cinematic potential. I recommend listening to this in its entirety, as each song conveys a different aspect of an overarching story which is pretty simple to understand on the surface level, but which contains horrifying depths.
The album in effect chronicles the takeover of Earth by a race of hostile things- I don’t even know if “aliens” would be the correct term to use here. Over the course of 15 tracks, Billy’s otherworldly synths guide us through the slow, arduous, invisible process of assimilation.
Track 4, “Dad has The Latest Computer,” introduces a fun element whereby, at least according to my interpretation, an ordinary consumer-grade PC bought by a suburban father becomes the impetus of the invasion- or at the very least alerts the beings to our presence. This is a fascinating plot, and would feel right at home in a family film of the era like E.T. or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, wherein Richard Dreyfuss portrays a father in a similar scenario, caught up in things beyond his knowledge.
Tracks 11 and 13, ‘Military Response Initiated” and “Military Response Failed,” respectively, contain incomprehensible military static and radio signals. These not only convey the isolation of humanity among the universe, and its helplessness against the threat, but they are effective in conveying that this world remains in a Cold War state, as at several points a sort of Soviet aura can be detected. This of course fits perfectly in line with the aesthetic of Rollerwave- despite the 1970s being a decade of de-escalation between the U.S. and Russia, and relative optimism reigned prior to the Reagan Administration, Billy presents a future which is always the 1970s, and the Soviet flag remains high, aiding in the fight against the otherworldly intruders in reluctant cooperation with the States.
The album ends on an ambiguous note in track 15, “And Now They Are Us”. This track must be heard to be believed, it is sublimely terrifying, merely consisting of a few minutes of ordinary ambient suburban noise. This implies, horribly, that life goes on as it always has- that we are them and that they are we, and humanity no longer exists yet continues in an altered, misshapen form. It is an incredible finale, tying everything together in a neat little bow.
“Invasion” may be Billy’s finest album, relaying without words the indescribable and the cosmically incomprehensible. It is a testament to the potential of instrumentals and synths, they move like twisted vipers throughout to give us an orchestral science-fiction masterwork.
I suggest “Invasion” for any Rollerwave enthusiasts, science fiction fans, alien fans, or people who like what Boards Of Canada bring to the table. Billy From Electronics has an impressive and criminally underrated discography, more of which I might detail in the future.