Fischerspooner - Odyssey 5.0

Alright, so it is pop. Pop shouldn’t get a break. Many pop musicians offer great, actually intelligent music. Fischerspooner doesn’t do that. Instead, he offers two halfway decent songs with some serious dregs for the rest of it. Considering where he came from, the word ‘disappointment’ can’t describe the awfulness.

                “Just Let Go” and “Cloud” are the only ones a casual listener might find interesting. What is the rest? Well, it isn’t absolutely dreadful, but it is pretty bad. Basically you get a lot of ‘by the numbers’ pop songs that sound like things he wrote up in a couple of minutes before microwaving a burrito.

                I wish they had spent more time on this. The beginning started out with a great deal of promise. You can feel an absolute rush of excitement, alongside some ridiculous flourishes. Nothing outside of the two first songs is worth it for me, or any sort of revisiting. I’ve tried to see if the rest of the album is more of a grower, but no, it feels like it is mostly terrible. One can almost hear the death knell of electroclash throughout the album.

Chicks on Speed – Chicks on Speed will Save Us All! 6.5

I have an emotional attachment with this particular album. When it first came out, I grew unreasonably obsessed with it and played it on repeat for an indefinite period of time. So bad it became that I saw them live, trying to convince others to see them with me at the Knitting Factory. They were about as art trashy as I could’ve hoped. Coming back to this, I wanted to see whether or not I still felt the same way about them. 

The music is still insanely catchy. Like, as I’m listening to this I remember some of my favorite songs clearly. But what sounded new in 2000 comes across as a bit dated now. For one, the electro clash thing they got involved in sounds a bit stale now. Plus, there’s a few more dullard tracks than I remember “Little Star” being a prime example. 

But those are minor details. A few tracks here avoid the inevitable aging process, like the mischievous “For All the Boys in the World”. No matter what happens, I’ll always adore this piece. It has some jittery melody in there somewhere, along with disemboweled vocals. 

Also, some of the ironic posturing no longer has the same feel for me. Songs like “Glamour Girl” come across as too much fluff. Yes, I know it is supposed to be sarcastic but it sounds a bit embarrassing to me. 

On the flip side, some of these songs still work the same way they did years ago. Listening to the entire album, their darker songs worked out much better. Songs like “Warm Leatherette” which is a great disturbing cover, and “Euro Trash Girl” which is pure garbage (I mean that as the highest compliment) remind me why I liked them.

Later on in their career they veered a little too much towards various inside jokes. But this one, though a bit dated, still has enough to offer.  

Tamion 12 Inch – Let’s Suffer 5.8

Signed onto ADULT’s “Ersatz Audio” label, I expected big things from these guys. Their initial offering to the public of a very twisted EP signaled big things. However, upon actually receiving the album, I ended up feeling a bit empty.

A stripped down version of ADULT’s already minimal style appealed to me, a young child thoroughly disillusioned. Most of this feels like second rate cuts from ADULT’s album. Then there’s the problem of songs that really outstay their welcome “Sisters” in particular coming to mind. I guess a piano solo would be cool in a band like Ben Folds, but this is electro-clash, we didn’t come here for that.

Now, don’t be fooled, there are some decent songs on here. “The Devil was Right Pt.2” and “Mix Mix Mix” work for their immediate impact and actual hooks. What bothers me is how much of these songs act more like mood pieces rather than visceral, living, breathing songs. 

Ultimately, if there were more songs of quality, I might be able to tolerate a second-rate version of ADULT.  But so much of this is so forgettable, even the better parts don’t merit more than an once-over.

Greatest Hits – Danse Pop 7.9

Olde English Spelling Bee is on something of a roll with these releases this year. Here’s another great pick of nostalgic pop music, but it is sadly only an EP.

Sure, the Games project for Oneohtrix Point Never did cover this same kind of territory, but Greatest Hits mine it even harder. Besides just using the average pop samples, there is some acknowledgment of internet humor on here: listen to the end of “Danse Pop” where it sounds like a song from Homestar Runner. In case there’s too many references on here, no worries, the music works well as straightforward pop music as well.

80s nostalgia isn’t all that’s here: more than a few times I felt like some early 90s lite.fm hits were being resurrected from the dead. “Make You Mine” sounds like an Ace of Bass song gone very wrong. Or that might just be my own wish.

As the painfully short collection of songs ends, we’re treated to the darker “Ambulance” which is a great, glitched up electroclash beauty. In case you needed more evidence, may I present you with their wonderful video? Enjoy!

Ambulance