Yet this is what it sounds like Simian Mobile Disco have done for their FabricLive album (that'll be 41 for you number fiends). It starts out all robotic but gradually gets a little nasty on you before you emerge, blinking, the other the side of the pearly gates at The Walker Brother's 'Night Flights'.
The spooky Santiago remix of Hercules and Love Affair's 'Blind' eptimomises this mix perfectly. From a distance it might sound like it loves you but when you hear the spooky electronic echoes, whooshing ghost noises and masses of dead space you realize your phone was being tapped the whole time and a swat team are smashing through your bedroom windows.
BlackPlastic said that the recent Simian Mobile Disco Clocks EP was "alright-not-great-innit". Maybe it's the context of the album. Maybe it's the remanent dopamine still coursing through BlackPlastic's body post-SMD's Field Day performance. Hell, maybe BP was just on crack at the time because, here, 'Simple' sounds fucking awesome, fool. As does most of side one (hillarious throw back to tape, or vinyl, take your pick).
The first half of this album is like Space Invaders taking over your little brain and that'll do just fine, thanks very much. Check out Smith N Hack's 'Space Warrior' and Discodeine's 'Joystick', even the titles scream: "The Princess is in another castle!"
Where this drops the ball slightly is when it does things like relying on Metro Area's 'Miura', Paul Woolford's 'Erotic Discourse' and Green Velvet's 'Flash'. They were great once but they're just too well trodden these days. It's like your robot wife offering you missionary position: "That's great thanks, but I know it quite well... How about..."
Oh, and no matter how much Simian Mobile Disco love Simon Baker's remix of 'Sleep Deprivation' (apparently quite a lot) they need to stop being so coy. The original is probably the best pure club track they have ever done and to snub it is unnecessary.
It starts brilliantly. It isnt as good as their Bugged Out mix. It becomes slightly less exciting towards the end. It's still the best fabric album in a while. Go figure.
BP x