Simian Mobile Disco - Tits and Acid

  • Published
    Oct 25, 2006
  • Label
    White label
  • Released
    November 2006
  • Genre
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  • We all know that dance music for rock fans exists. Americans may know this phenomenon as ‘electronica’. What’s more obscure is why dance music fans tend to hate this stuff so much. Well, actually it’s not all that obscure, it’s because those selfsame rock fans tend to reject 90% of the music that we love, so we hate right back at ‘em, making it simply an irrational reaction, not a weird one. Cut Copy, Justice and Simian Mobile Disco all purvey something that clearly appeals to this ‘rock fan’ audience, but while ‘Waters of Nazareth’ is unmitigated garbage (and that’s a rational reaction), denying the gleeful immediacy of Simian’s anthemic ‘We are your Friends’ and ‘Hustler’ is like pretending not to find puppies cute. These tracks display a deeper musical knowledge and a lighter touch than their confreres, and while unlikely to appear on the next Tobi Neumann mix, they do demonstrate that Simian have genuine talent. Having said all that, this isn’t their best effort. The rhythms on ‘Tits and Acid’ start out nimble and interesting but very quickly get buried beneath layer on layer of manic 303 and stuttering drums. It just ramps up too much intensity too early on to stay interesting. A good DJ could drop a minute or two of this to good effect, and there could be some nice remixes, but in its entirety it verges on the painful. ‘Animal House’ on the B-side has more to offer with cute burbling riffs morphing into the words of the title as it bounces along in a chirpy 4/4 fashion. There are quirky filters and breakdowns and the whole affair is pretty infectious. The whole release is chock full of ideas and inventiveness and shows Simian have a great deal of crossover potential, in a way that reminds me a lot of the Chemical Brothers, however these tracks are unlikely to be remembered as their finest moments.
RA