Attack Decay Sustain Release

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Simian Mobile Disco

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I'll admit, Simian Mobile Disco's "Attack Decay Sustain Release" is by no means an album that has hidden elements about it that you will discover through many listens. All this album does is provide 10 (12 with the two bonus tracks) compulsively danceable cuts that will have you on your feet for over 40 minutes straight.

Simian Mobile Disco consists of two former rockers that decided to get into the Acid House genre, which has been around for quite a while now. Simian definitely follows the belief that newer gear does not necessarily mean better. Along with Daft Punk and Justice, these two producers use analog gear that holds onto the human mistakes that old electronic gear has, and the lo-fi synths definitely gives this album that old school feel. Highlights include their biggest single "It's The Beat" featuring vocals from the lead singer of the Go! Team, "Sleep Deprivation", "Love", "I Believe", and the second bonus track "System". From start to finish, this album will keep you up without pause. SMD by no means break any ground with this release, but they create an irresistible "good-times" album that will have you remembering why music makes us dance. Highly recommended!

I was never a big fan of the original Simian, although I did like a few of their songs (the best of which were often featured on car or soap commercials). Their music had an electro-epileptic tweakiness to it, as if in the search of the perfect minimalist hook, all they could come up with was the aural equivalent of a nervous tic.

Simian Mobile Disco features a longer name but half as many members. Having fewer cooks means the broth has more creative spice to it, but there's still that odd, underformed flavor. The duo of Ford and Shaw are still bravely blazing the techno corridors of pulled-back pop, but that means the album as a whole sounds like a case of trial and error. It's not like I fault the disc for lacking any kind of consistent sound, but I do fault it for its inconsistent quality.

I wish I could say what cripples it most, but there's no pattern to it. The songs that work range from jaw-busting dance ("Sleep Deprivation" and "It's the Beat," which has a cameo by Ninja from The Go! Team) to a sort of floofy, fun house trance ("Clock," which reminds me a lot of the lighter stuff by TFSOL, and "Scott"). I really like how they play with shaved off sound, techno-tinctured tinbeats sparkling along the groove lines of the songs.

But, overall, the album's wings are crippled by a basic lack of borders. Every once in a while you'll catch a track that has a high-sheen vocal track that's so silly and tired that the rather nice electronic backdrop is drowned out ("Love," for my part, being the best -- or worst -- example of this.) And, worse, some of the songs stale quite fast. On my first listen, I kind of liked "I Got This Down," but on my second time around, I wondered how anyone who wasn't drunk could find it enjoyable on any level.

On the whole, I won't say it's a bad album, but it fails to inspire any of the things its genre flopping songs want it to. And if the title is any indication of the record's goals, I'll say, for now, only one of those words is apt.