So, I was just browsing for records recently at Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC (an awesome record store, by the way) when I happened across a 7″ by a band called Cotton Candy. The clerk had written “Mark Robinson” on a sticker above the price tag, which is why I picked it up. Well, because of that and the cool artwork. Mark Robinson, as you may well know, owns Teenbeat records, home of one of my favorite defunct bands, Unrest, which Robinson also fronted. As an avid collector of all things Unrest, I must admit it had been a while since I’d been aware of any of Robinson’s creative outlets. Last time I checked in was with the stilted post-punk of Flin Flon, but even that’s been a while. So I was excited to hear what he’s been up to. Cotton Candy stays in the jangly indie pop world Robinson has inhabited on and off for two decades. His half-spoken choirboy voice leads the charge over clean guitars. The other half of Cotton Candy, Evelyn Hurley, adds equally clean backing vocals. Underpinned by stuttering electronic flutters, “Fantastic Spectacular” evolves into a strangely synthetic experimentation, replete with vocoder and spooky, muted voices. Definitely worth checking out, if you’re a fan of any of Robinson’s previous work.

http://www.myspace.com/cottoncandyteenbeat