Junkie XL
Saturday Teenage Kick
(Roadrunner)
If you're a hardcore fan of electronic music with smarts, you need to steer far clear of this album. If, however, you enjoy throwing on some unabashed goofy big-beat music that makes absolutely no sense, I've got just the thing to ease your woes.
This Dutch duo is the combination of one guy who does the programming / music and the former lead guy from Urban Dance Squad (known on this album as the Silver Surfing Rudeboy). Probably the best explanation of the group is that they sound like a pumped-up version of The Prodigy. Actually, this group toured with them and that's where they found their first big break.
The music on the disc is for the most part loud, fast and abrasive with plenty of hard beats layed down over everything. One thing that annoyed me at first (but then sort of grew on me) is the 'rapping' by above mentioned goofy-named Rudeboy. He doesn't let the lyrics flow on every track, but when he does it's a nonstop string of nonsensical phrasing that mainly deals with technology and bad combinations of catch phrases. When the music works, though (and this is most of the time), it's hard not to get sucked in by it all. On the title track, a sample of Bob Mould (!) guitars flow underneath the most hand-waving summer-bash anthem that you probably didn't hear last year. The vocal-less "Def Beat" completely holds true to its title and slams along with a huge beat and furious builds. The final track is a 15-minute epic called "Future In Computer Hell" that goes for about 8 minutes before dissolving into nothing but a murmur for several minutes before racing back and slamming the lid on the ending of the disc.
As I mentioned before, this thing isn't for those who like subtle-ness. One of the tracks from the disc was featured in one of the action sequences in the movie Blade if that gives you any more hints. Still, it's very well constructed and I'm actually surprised that several songs on the album didn't take off. Maybe they'll be back, though, and Fatboy should keep a look out.
Rating: 7.5
