Thunderheist

Hip hop electronica / dance club fare. Somehow reminds me of the Gorillaz, MIA, and “Everything is Everything” by Lauryn Hill. Yeah. Thunderheist are a Canadian two-piece consisting of female MC Isis and programmer Grahm Zilla. This is their debut album. Deadpan, lazy rap vocals + padded drums and synth = dancey sexy booty music. The provocative/bizarre music video for “Jerk It” was kind of a big deal earlier this year (and the song was on the soundtrack for The Wrestler), but the rest of the album doesn’t really live up to the hype.

try: 1, 3 (FCC?), 13, 2
FCC: 5, 6, 8, 10, 12

*1. pure cool dance track. smooth bass, not too fast. nice use of single-word lyric repeats. ode to underage clubbing. my pick on this disk.
*2. big, loud, commanding synth that could back a faint song. love or hate the one-syllable-per-beat verse. smooth & catchy chorus sort of takes over the track and doesn’t turn back.
*3. ?FCC? the single. trebly power-synth loop and handclaps. terribly catchy. no points for guessing what this one’s about. i swear i heard “bitch” in there, though the online lyrics dispute this.
4. slower, dark synth with staccato video game effects & a time signature aimed to confuse.
5. FCC dance song about dancing. schoolgirl jump rope rap, wa wa synth. upbeat.
6. FCC bizarre intro, vacuum/gravity synth effects, sparse laid-back drums.
7. upbeat. mostly sung (ie, not rapped), no loop, less in-your-face synth. up-and-down key runs a la freezepop’s “less talk”. vocals slightly lagging the beat in the chorus.
8. FCC straight-ahead top 40 rap content (jewels, drugs, boyfriend stealing), musically sounds a lot like the verse on track 3.
9. low-key, spacey synth, dark & moody, but upbeat. “wipe your nose freddie” refrain.
10. FCC explosive synth to start, tight dancey chorus with overarching synth melody notes. layered (doubled) vocals.
11. slower, low spongy/metal springs feel with what sounds like high bells or spurs (as in boots) in the background. crisp & soft lyrics almost whispered, creepy siren noise backs the verses.
12. FCC video game lasers, busy keys/synth loop, lazy behind-the-beat vocals in chorus, rapped verses.
*13. dark, pulsing, muddy and melodic. distorted vocals. nice ghostlike effects. this is the “introducing the band” track. (ie, “t-h-u-n-d-e-r-h-e-i-s-t”)