NYC dance floor record label DFA has spent the last ten years releasing some of the finest DIY grooves the world has seen, this sophomore release by solo modern disco artist Shit Robot is no exception to this. The album sees a plethora of cameos from some legends of modern dance music including Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem, Lidell Townself and (quite bizarrely) comedian Reggie Watts.
The album is chock full of four on the floor dance beats which push all 9 tracks along well, generating dancefloor rhythms which form a strong base for the album, on top of this, you have deep bass synthesisers and occasionally some LCD Soundsystem style treble heavy electric bass. Your classic disco themes are present; some airy synth hooks and catchy piano lines, however the album doesn’t just sound like a throwback 80’s album, it’s so much more than that.
At times, tracks sounds like Disclosure with more soul and a bit of natural DIY charm. The vocal contributions complement the music perfectly, creating memorable choruses which despite their repetitive nature never become grating. Instead, they give the tracks a direction and a structure, making the songs sound more like solid singles rather than just an empty backing track. The two instrumental tracks on the release are both based around single looped sequences with layers of sonic material adding some dynamics. Unfortunately, unlike the vocal based tracks, these instrumentals lack order and sound lazily put together.
I wouldn’t say that Shit Robot is thinking man’s music and that might just be why I found the instrumentals directionless, but maybe these tracks are better to listen to in a club rather than alone in a room, thinking about every chord and stylistic element. Overall, I found the album very enjoyable, the album isn’t the most groundbreaking album I’ve ever heard and certainly isn’t a game changer for modern dance music but I can’t deny that I enjoyed this album greatly.
Words: Alex Greenup
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