Muscles: Guns Babes Lemonades
Friday, 11 Apr 2008 14:23
Muscles: Guns Babes Lemonades
Modular, April 14th.
In a nutshell….
Even Calvin Harris might be better
What's it all about?
Modular pretty much defined 2007 for a group of people in London – the sort of people who like tight jeans and brightly coloured hoodies from American Apparel. The record label kept producing ace after ace, releasing material from the like of Cut Copy, New Young Pony Club, MSTRKRFT, Chromeo, and The Presets.
This year's not been so much of a vintage, what with Whitest Boy Alive being a bit rubbish and no one taking to Buraka Som Sistema like they did to CSS. The guys are hoping that Muscles, a perky 22-year-old from the label's native Australia who makes bouncy and frankly silly electro pop, will put them back on the map and ensure they get some free tickets to some festivals this summer.
On his debut album, Guns Babes Lemonade, he delivers 11 dance nuggets that people who only ever listen to electronic music after nine stellas or when Jo Whiley plays it will probably love.
Who's it by?
Little Muscles first caused a stir when he released compilation of 20 lo-fi experimental songs burned on 80 handmade CDs back in 2006. The only Australian radio station anyone has heard of, Triple J picked up one of the songs and like it. They played it. Other people liked it.
In one fell swoop, the man moved from DJing indie nights and club shows in Melbourne and Sydney to opening for the likes of Robyn and Soulwax. Amazing what a catchy song can do for you!
From there, some more gigs with bands that were supposed to get really famous but didn't (we're thinking about Architecture In Helsinki here).
With the release of his debut in Australia, Muscles then really hit the big time, touring with everyone's favourite robot hat-wearing French rave purveyors, Daft Punk.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Even people who really like this record have already admitted that it's not really breaking any new ground (or any ground really).
Sure, it might be fun and it's ultimately a bit empty and anyone who makes it all the way through the record is going to struggle to remember what any of the individual songs actually sounded like. Which doesn't really bode well come award time.
As far as I can remember, no one was tripping over themselves to give Calvin Harris a Grammy.
What the others say
"A modernist take on big beat, mixing pop hooks with acid squelches and an unashamed lust for the dancefloor." Eddy Lawrence for TimeOut
"The Woody Allen of new rave." Tony Naylor for the NME
So is it any good?
Everyone is talking about how Muscles is making dance music that is 'fun' and accessible for people who don't really like songs without really instruments and a lead singer in a little hat. Which is to say, Muscles makes the sort of electronic music that occasionally gets really popular and reaches number one in the charts.
Indeed, there are probably some songs here that could make passable singles. Ice Cream is actually really quite funny - for an electronic song anyway - and is meaty and quirky enough that people could go nuts for it. It's also got a silly chorus that people would enjoy shouting at a festival in the sun, which is always a plus. The Lake is also OK, sounding like a modern update of the sort of trance that was massive at the turn of the Millennium
All very well if you don't like dance music, but anyone who does is going to despise this record. For one thing, Muscles voice is really, really annoying. He sounds like he's doing the Australian version of Lily Allen and deliberately making himself sound about 80 per cent less posh than he probably is. In fact, his voice is so grating that even the songs which might have been ok, like My Friend Richard and maybe Hey Muscles I Love You, are ruined.
And another thing, most of the songs sound like they could have been knocked up on a laptop kitted out with Ableton Live in about 3.32 minutes. Which makes it annoying that Muscles got to play with the likes of Daft Punk and Soulwax. Both of whom actually make good dance music that people who say they like Muscles should try listening to once in a while.
4/10
James Cooper
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