Electrorash

So, this is the oddest collaboration I’ve seen for a while. Neon Neon is the joint brainchild of abstract hip-hop producer Boom Bip and former Super Furry Animals front-man Gruff Rhys. As far as I can tell, not since German synth-poppers The Notwist combined with Canadian anarchist art-rappers Themselves to produce the superlative ‘13 & God’ has there been such a seemingly incongruous meshing of musical styles. Admittedly, the two have come together before on Boom Bip’s ‘Blue Eyed in the Red Room’ album, but ‘Stainless Steel’ is their first release as the reasonably descriptive Neon Neon. And it’s pretty fucking awesome.

While the over-arching aesthetic seems to be that of a reasonably shameless revisiting of 80s chart fodder, the final result is far more eclectic and entertaining than it’s questionable subject matter might suggest. There are some tracks which obviously drip with Boom Bip’s influence (the grime laden ‘Trick or Treat’ and ‘Sweat Shop’), while Gruff is presumably more in control on the surreal synth-rock of tracks like ‘Michael Douglas’ or ‘Belfast’. But what really makes the album a worthwhile project is the way in which these two influences are tied together by a sequence of electro-pop numbers that seem to share equally between the two. The traversals between these disparate stylistic exercises make for an occasionally erratic album, but one which is full of pleasant sequencing surprises. For example, the dark and sexy ‘Sweat Shop’ (replete with Yo Majesty guest spot) is sandwiched between the sweet, retro-fired laptop pop of ‘I Lust U’ and the Depeche Mode homage ‘Belfast’. It’s lightly schizophrenic, but delightfully so. Apparently the album is loosely based around the life of De Lorean Motor Company founder John De Lorean (most obscure concept album ever?), but I think that’s an unnecessary justification for an album that stands by itself as a quirky and endearing pastiche of the best and worst moments of 1980s pop. 8 thumbs up.

Neon Neon – I Told Her on Alderaan [YSI]
Neon Neon – I Told Her on Alderaan [MediaFire]

Neon Neon – Sweat Shop (feat. Yo Majesty) [YSI]
Neon Neon – Sweat Shop (feat. Yo Majesty) [MediaFire]

Fun fact for the day: in 1982 John De Lorean was almost involved in a cocaine-trafficking scheme to try and procure enough money to save his company, but the entire plan turned out to have been a convoluted plot by the FBI to ping him for drug smuggling. He eventually escaped prosecution on the basis that the FBI had engaged in entrapment. Which it obviously had. Maybe that’s what the album is about…

-luke