The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Peter reviews three electropop albums. Three different female-fronted electropop duos. Some are good. Some are bad. And well the last one I’m undecided so…I’ll let you decide.
THE GOOD – ELECTROCUTE
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Electrocute – On the Beat EP (2008, Independent)
Known for their eclectic mix of garage-like guitar riffs over bubblegum pop synths, the snazzy LA-duo electroclash duo of Nicole Morier and Legs Le Brock are back. Released earlier this April, their short but sweet six track EP this time comes with a little help by veteran DJ Junkie XL, whom the duo have previously worked with before on the Dutchman’s latest studio release Booming Back at You. At the risk of sounding lazy and losing my musical integrity the album is best described as Electro/Cute (no seriously), which is the sound that has been accomplished in this record. Compared to their previous release Troublesome Bubblegum, the record is a bit more inspired sonically as they come off as more electronically inclined and with less vulgar and sexually suggestive lyrics.
The disc opener On the Beat starts off with a fast-paced, sugary clap-induced beat that sounds like it could have came off sound cheerleader’s chant, while immediately following is Uh Oh which contains off-beat, snappy, distorted guitar riffs with a solid bassline making the song one incredibly infectious dance-pop tune. Another particularly interesting track is the raunchy Tiger Toy featuring Lady Tigra which uses the flirtatious lyrics behind a hippie-organ induced beat (that sounds like something from Austin Powers) adding another hit to their six-track ensemble. However, by far the best track and the highlight of the album is the album closer Just like I Am. The song is much slower than the rest of the upbeat six-track EP and features Nicole’s soft, melancholic and almost dream-like vocals over a broken xylophone beat followed by a heavily distorted guitar riffs. Although “On the Beat” is rather short, the album clearly demonstrates the talent of this band through their experiments in sound, whether they be guitar or synth. Oh and that’s not the best part of the album… it’s free! By that I don’t mean like “illegally download” free but like “legally” free with on their myspace if you don’t mind a listening to a promo that lasts a few seconds long before each track.
Recommended Tracks: Uh Oh, Tiger Toy, Just Like I Am
Listen to Electrocute if you like: Dead Disco, Le Tigre, Sohodolls
Official Site: www.electrocute.de
Myspace: www.myspace.com/electrocute
THE BAD – UH HUH HER
Uh Huh Her – Common Reaction (2008, Nettwerk)
So one day I check rotate.ca (The local ticket vendor’s site) and see that Uh Huh Her is playing in Toronto and that maybe I should go on and check them out. I forgot. Then I saw an ad for their CD in Nylon Magazine. I was like yeah they’re probably pretty big, so I finally got to it. So I head to their myspace and learn that the band has been featured on TV shows such as The Hills and The L-Word, which is not surprising considering founding member Leisha Hailey stars on the show L-Word herself. Anyway I was captivated what this band would sound like. Big mistake. Usually on their myspace they put forth their best songs, and the only one that garnered some sort of attention was the title track Common Reaction and possibly the snappy garage-infused intro of Not of Love Song (which is their first single) while the others where just so bland and uninspiring that I wondered why I wasted my time listening. Anyway, I wanted to make sure they lived up to their hype so I downloaded the rest of the CD. From start to finish I had trouble distinguishing one song from the next, as it uses the same soft melancholic vocals in every track and has more or less the same bass line in each song. They advertise themselves as an indie/electro band however I can hardly even detect a synthesizer beat in the entire disc, with only traces in the intros of a few songs. With so little diversity in their vocals and rhythms and it actually offends me that they state labelmates Ladytron as their influences. Boring, unwitting and uninspired, I have only three words for this album: Uh huh…her.
Recommended Tracks: None. I listened to the album several times, I liked nothing.
Listen to Uh Huh Her if you like: The L-Word and Uh Huh Her – this album is for fans only.
Official Site: www.uhhuhher.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/uhhuhhermusic
THE UGLY – TATU
t.A.T.u. – Veselye Ulybki (Happy Smiles) (2008, T.A. Music)
After a 3 year hiatus, the Russian duo t.A.T.u. is back. It was quite awhile when their faux-lesbian gimmick first hit the shores of North America 6 years ago, then when the gimmick all blew over they quickly faded into obscurity. Yes ugly isn’t it? Well there’s nothing ugly about tatu, first of all there is nothing physically undesirable about the Russian duo of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova (who are quite easy on the eye) and finally who is to say that the entire music industry isn’t dominated by gimmicks? Nevertheless t.A.T.u. is back with a slightly more polished image and with a new record, a recent stint as the new face of Marc Jacobs’ Winter/Fall 2008 line and did I say a new movie? Yes, a movie that stars Mischa Barton who meets her lesbian lover in Moscow at a t.A.T.u. concert and is set to release in Spring 2009 under the name You and I. Now this is getting interesting.
Anyway, on October 21st, 2008 the duo finally broke their unexplained absence and released their 3rd studio album named Veselye Ulybki which translates loosely to Happy Smiles. Is the new album gimmick-free? Not surprisingly I’ll have to say no, their first video off the album Beily Plaschik features both members in the nude. Yes, I just said that. Anyway, given all that I have said earlier it is quite a task to review an album free of any bias given the guilty pleasure stigma, however I sat down and gave the album a good, solid listen. The album first starts off with a slow instrumental intro that is roughly 3 minutes long, and then aptly begins into the second track Beily Plaschik. The second track is a synth-heavy track with short bursts of staccato-like Cyrillic vocals behind a fast-paced dance-pop tune. Following are the tracks “You and I” which is only one of three English tracks on the album and “220”, a song named after the amount of volts you need to plug in something in Europe. Like Beily Plaschik these songs rely on the sound that made t.A.T.u. famous, fast-heavy synths with sparse but heavy hitting vocals. Although undeniably catchy, there is really nothing too new as the sound is not too different from their previous hits “All the Things She Said or “Not Going to Get Us” which is a bit disappointing. The rest of the album takes a slower pace starting with Marsianskiye Glaza which features nothing more than a slow ballad behind a snare drum. However, after Marsianskiye Glaza, the album slowly starts to decline with the mood and pace slowing dramatically and particularly disappointing is “Fly on the Wall” whose chorus constantly abruptly cuts the flow of the song with “Oh I wish I was a fly on the wall”. Overall the album was better than I expected and while there is really nothing too new about this record compared to its predecessors its worth a listen and makes for a good guilty pleasure.
Recommended Tracks:
Beily Plaschik, 220
Listen to t.A.T.u if you like: Alizee, Garbage and if you don’t mind a “Guilty Pleasure”
Official Site: www.tatu.ru
Myspace: www.myspace.com/tatu my blue heaven download free