Described as the bad twins of Stereolab (after opening for them on a European tour), the Memorials land at Fire Records with what is defined as their debut album, "Memorial Waterslides". In reality, the duo formed by Verity Susman (active with Electrelane) and Matthew Simms (member of Wire, Better Corners, It Hugs Back, Uuuu, and Fitted) has already released three records ("Music For Film: Tramps! Pt. 1", "Music For Film: Tramps! Pt. 2", and "Music For Film: Women Against The Bomb"): being soundtracks, some might not consider them on par with an album. In my personal opinion, they can very well be, given the quality of the material they contain. The music of the Memorials can be described by dividing their repertoire into three macro categories: 60s psychedelia, 60s pop, and jazz improvisation/experimentation. Each album includes more or fewer elements of these categories in varying amounts. Among all the band’s material I mentioned, I prefer "Music For Film: Tramps! Pt. 2", which limits the pop component to a minimum and gives free rein to the desire to experiment with different atmospheres, using a lot of electronics. This is a much less present factor in this "Memorial Waterslides", which starts with 60s pop ballads with some experimental turns and then, towards the end, finds its darker side. Listen to the effects used in the eight-minute-long suite “I Have Been Alive”, which are then mixed with jazzy insights in “False Landing.” The pop songs with the almost whispered female voice, which refer more to Stereolab, intrigue me less: I find the more experimental or nearly folk ones (like the final “The Politics Of Whatever”) more personal and engaging.