Ventriloquizzing

Dark glam funk. Electro lite. Sharp and sexy inching-on-a-whisper sprechstimme male vox, dark lyrics, minor all over. Why dance to this when you could slink? Utterly hypnotic. Produced with precision -- not a hair out of place on this album. The real centerpiece here is David Best on vox, sounding seductive and sinister and oh-so-sophisticated. It’s like Depeche Mode fronted by Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp).

RIYL: Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Fischerspooner, Can, Arab Strap, LCD Soundsystem, darker Pulp

Note: Despite the high-larious band name, these boys are Brits. Duh.

try: 1, 2, 3, 8
no FCCs

*1. dark, hypnotic, eerie. ~30 sec vibey intro, then pushy minimalist synth bass. narrated by a ventriloquist’s dummy. “we’ve got nothing up our sleeves; we can’t even breathe; we move our arms when you pull our strings.” creepy shit. bursts into noisy synth in the last minute.
*2. funky slowish slinkster bass. super smooth. chilling vox, undulating beat. “i beat you sixteen shades of black of blue.” reminds me of crocodiles’ “flash of light”.
*3. sharp! tight sticky guitar, haunty descending piano. precise cool riff mixed with ghost noises and some fuzz. funky as fuck.
4. upbeat. booming scooty bass, hard snare. high effectsy keys underlie the track. cool syncopated beat, some swing / big band elements. unbelievable purred ‘r’s.
5. simple pop rock structure and repetitive lyrics. timekeeping piano chords, nice use of deep minor frills. “you change your mind when the wind blows.”
6. slow plink-drop keys and warbly bass. picks up + drum kit ~50 sec in. layers on and gets groovy, but retains the eerie keys of the intro. “these little pills may give you dizzy spells.”
7. bellsy, chipper, quirky intro. windchimey. cute old-oriental keys. “let me whisper in your ear and tell you it will be okay.”
*8. quirky cake-ish guitar, scattered percussion. playful keys. very “west end girls”. “the devil was caucasian.” absurd narrative about dining with the devil punctuated with whimsical instrumentation. it’s like “funky cold medina”, but for soup. FALSE ENDING :30 to end, or just cut it there.
9. echoey orby sound. feeling the space age. light, mid-slow, piano-based, lacking drums or bass.
10. ~18 sec to start (slow-fade rudder bass intro). off-the-beat vox, dark synth. solid, driving beat and deadpan absurd lyrics. “a pair of stilettos can’t hit the high notes.”
11. vox only sing-speech intro. queasy carnival bass/drum and eerie backing choral vox.