DAT Politics – Wow Twist – 4/5
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I’ve demonstrated once that it’s not only the Japanese who can do quirky, and whilst the style may be somewhat reminiscent of their picopop, DAT Politics are entirely French. Fitting somewhere between boisterous pop and frenetically cut electrical signals in place of actual musical instruments, to call this unusual would be an understatement. It’s whacky, bizarre, nonsensical, overtly electronic, and yet for the duration of this album I’m transported to some form of party where all the guests are characters from ‘Super Mario’ or one of the ‘Pokemon’ games, jumping over the flying turtles in ‘Cerulean City’ and eating flowers whilst ‘Misty’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ sing into the mic (well, Misty sings at least. Kong just kinda yells and beats his chest a bit).
If it still needs to be pointed out, don’t go into this expecting the same tired charade of music dominating electropop; they aren’t just a pop band making up for their unoriginality by using more keyboard synths than should be legal, these Frenchies sound as though through a helping hand of cocaine and meth they haven’t slept for the year this took to write and record (as well as the ‘research’ phase involving LSD and a SNES), the tracks only ending when their ‘ADD’ kicks in and they get bored and move onto something else. This is the only real explanation that I can come up with for their eclectic use of drum samples, distorted signals, Hip-Hop scratching and 8-bit chiptune melodies that proves unexpectedly effective.
Even the vocals aren’t free from the electrical tyranny; both the male and female vocalists who alternate between tracks have had their voice heavily digitised, and the signal manipulated to deep bellowing lows and chipmunk-like high levels of absurdity. I won’t pretend any of this music makes sense but in all its frantic nonsensical glory that never becomes an issue. Through all the insanity the music is more than simply addictive; it’s fun and boisterous and varied enough throughout its short length that it never feels stale. This falls into that very rare category of pop that you want to get stuck in your head.
Highlights: Turn My Brain Off, Gravity, My Toshiba is Alive, Video Tape
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