UltraChorus - "Ultra-Def"

UltraChorus and Their Debut Album “Ultra-Def”

by: Marisa Whitaker

Chris Heidman and Jeff Lorentzen, the duo of UltraChorus, present us with their new album Ultra-Def. Chris produces the electro-pop rudiments and Jeff taps in with his R&B and Hip-Hop beats. This makes for an overall unique sound. It’s fresh and fun and UltraChorus knows how to deliver a great, foot-tappin’, head-bobbin’ album.

The pair began their music when they met at a recording studio they worked for and in their spare time they were able to write and play a few tracks together. One of the songs, “Margins” was actually an old creation of Chris’ that he dug up one day. He was never sure about how the song was going to turn out but Jeff took it up and after a couple tries showed it to Chris and thus, the song found a place onto Ultra-Def. “Words Kept Talking” actually started their quest to complete a full-length album along with their other favorites, “Taskforce” and “Happy and Sad.” Chris comments that the song, “Happy and Sad” is “real visual, the keyboards sound is so crazy and light and extreme all at the same time.” Which really is one of the dominating characteristics of all the UltraChorus music.

Going deeper into their musical style we find quite a wide variety of inspirations from other bands. Chris grew up loving the Velvet Underground and Pavement while Jeff had his R&B groups. Chris told me, “Maybe Hot Chip in the electro-indie sense, Phoenix in the pop factor, and a touch of Akon on the Production. It's all over the map!”

I feel like this mash of the genres can mostly be captured in the song, “Scarlet Eyes.” If you listen to this song you can hear a steady bomp, bomp, bomp, distinctive to hip-hop music and in one part of the song, there’s almost a rapping of words, where Jeff doesn’t exactly sing the words, it’s just said. However, throughout the whole song there’s that odd “monome” instrument Chris plays. He told me, “it's basically the nerdiest thing you have ever seen! It’s a lot of lights and rubber buttons and it's awesome.” If it makes those crazy cool electronic sounds, Chris, we’ll love you and your nerdy-ness.

“I love Hi Def Tv,” Chris begins, but Jeff explains “… I thought it was pretty appropriate... not only do we make ‘UltraChorus’,’ but we present in ‘Ultra-Def’." But apparently he (Chris) likes Hi-Def TV,” when I asked them the reason behind the title of the album and it truly is presented in “Ultra-Def.” People of all genre tastes can really relate to this compilation of kick-ass songs. I think UltraChorus is going to go far. With their fusion of indie, electronic and R&B, anyone can get into this music and everyone will!

I’m going to give Ultra-Chorus a 8.5 out of 10. Not because they didn’t to an A+ job, but only because I’d love to see more and until I do, I can’t necessarily rate any higher. More albums and more awesome-ness, please, Chris & Jeff!