- Dirty South has burst out of nowhere, to try and conquer Melbourne's house scene before moving onto the world. His style is largely electro-house and he's definitely got promise, but it is still early days for this DJ/producer/remixer.
This latest EP follows on the heels of Dirty South's ARIA nominated hit 'Sleazy' from 2005. The opening track, 'Such a Freak', is largely repetitive electro funk with a deep groove to get stuck in. To me it evokes strong visual images of teenagers singing along to it on their iPods.
Track 2, the delightful Dirty South reworking of 'It's Too Late' by Evermore, is the key track on the album. It has a dirty electro stabbing bassline between the verse and chorus grabs. From NZ/Australia, Evermore have found international fame thanks to 'It's Too Late' and another of their songs, 'For One Day', featuring on US TV teen drama 'The O.C.'. The song now makes its way onto dance floors thanks to Dirty South's tweaking and props from Pete Tong, who listed it as an Essential New Tune. I liked the orginal, and I don't mind this version either.
The opening bars of 'Get Down' sound great with acoustic guitar and percussion. The track is quickly ruined though by keyboard vocals and a relentless electro "noise" to the production. The vocals didn't excite me either, with label dropping chants. "Gucci, Armani, ..get down", ...yawn.
'Spank It' continues the homage to disco dancing via electro beats and male vocals about ass bouncing and picking up chicks in the club. Oh dear, I feel a yawn coming on again.
TV Rock (Grant Smilie and Ivan Gough) then get to work on 'Such a Freak', producing a version with a little more class and variety than the original.
None of the other tracks on this EP are of the calibre of 'It's Too Late', and that track's brilliance is largely due to Evermore. While Sleazy was a fun track, none of the Dirty South originals on this album are in any way as exciting. 'Get Down' is getting there, but ... more depth than disco please.