CUT COPY – In Ghost Colours – Modular
Infectious as any release this year, In Ghost Colours succeeds, not due to its originality, you’ve heard this before, but because of its timing and measured approach. This isn’t a hookfest, all soaring guitars and trying-to-be-anthemic posturing, nor is it repetitive, the same pattern playing out for seven minutes at a time. The Melbourne outfit tempers one extreme with the other, reverberating guitars balancing out warm synths and, yes, a handful of gigantic hooks, hung like gaudy neon signage on several songs, most notably ‘Lights’ and ‘Music’, which radiates a hollow righteousness via dynamic twiddles and a few well-placed, angular guitar riffs.
MOBY – Last Night – Mute
You never know what Moby will come up with next. From Twin Peaks-sampling rave anthem Go to the calm minimalism of his Ambient collection, from the exuberant variety of Everything Is Wrong to the thrashing rock strains of commercial flop Animal Rights to the multi-million selling, ubiquitous down tempo hit that was Play, Moby always seemed to be moving the musical goalposts. Last Night is more of a natural successor to 1995’s Everything Is Wrong with its rave influences and mix of different styles and genres. The piano breakdowns, euphoric vocal samples and Moby’s trademark orchestral strings aren’t just subtle nods towards the white-gloved excesses of the late 80s and early 90s, the influence is explicit. Naming a track ‘Everyday It’s 1989’ says it all. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you’re an old raver (insert mirror), and it is offset by the forward-thinking dance music and rich electronica that surround it. If you’ve rued the day Moby stopped producing storming, hook-heavy dance music, then you’ll welcome Last Night with open arms.
MISS KITTIN – Batbox – Nobody’s Bizzness
Ms Kittin’s roots in the electroclash scene of the late 90s can still be heard all over her latest release – Batbox. Track after track of lo-fi, crunching electro sounds, with everything amped to 11, makes for an engaging listen. Kittin, along with co-producer Pascal Gabriel, orchestrates a minimal collection of sounds to an attention-grabbing whole. There’s considerable space for every grain of bitcrushed and distorted noise to breathe. The inventiveness of sounds in the bass register are continually engaging and drive the music across the dance floors it’s designed for. Miss Kittin has an ear for a melodic hook and memorable choruses flit through the album. Yes, the music is made for fairly hedonistic purposes, but if you can overlook (overhear?) what’s actually being said, there’s enough energy, infectiousness and drive on Batbox to put a smile on your sweating body.
