The Designer's Drugs

Medium: Album


Stimulus: BT – These Hopeful Machines

I’ve always been divided when it comes to BT. Everything I’ve heard from the artist features highly produced, top-line electronic music which isn’t afraid of song structure while avoiding formula and repetition. The problem I have with BT is that when his songs feature vocalists, these people always blurt out contrived romantic sentiments, seemingly written by the world’s biggest pussy. Without fail, that is what happens on the two discs which comprise These Hopeful Machines. The music is panoramic and ridiculously danceable. The lyrics suck.

Thus, it’s easy to gravitate toward instrumental tracks like “Rose of Jericho” and “Le Nocturne de Lumiere” which rush and sweep the listener along with orchestral rhythms. Yet if one can get past the awful lyricism on the vocal tracks, there’s a lot to enjoy here as well. The chorus of “The Emergency” may include nonsense drivel such as “You’re I love you,” but the song’s cutting beats and pulses produce one of the album’s best tracks. Similarly, “Suddenly” is a roaring pop single scuffed by clichés exalting emotion and fate. What remains is a vast array of styles ranging from explosive to contemplative, every track a different exercise in craftsmanship.

Maybe BT just needs to hire a new lyricist.


Stimulus: Scissor Sisters – Night Work


The impression I’ve taken from the Scissor Sisters’ new album is that the band is cashing in some of its Bee Gees disco sleaze for the more neon-colored perversions of the 80s. The band’s old wails show up in the lounging “Whole New Way” and the absurdly seedy “Any Which Way,” but most of Night Work is newer old school.

The title track opens the disc with “Funky Town” via “Physical,” “Running Out” pops up in the middle of the album waving a hint of Oingo Boingo, and “Invisible Light” caps everything off by mixing Scissor Sisters disco with Frankie Goes to Hollywood meets Animotion’s “Obsession.” Continuing the retro scheme, “Nightlife” is a quick and satisfying blast of New Wave, while Jake Shears breaks out a neat little Iggy Pop vamp in “Harder You Get” and Ana Matronic takes on her sole lead vocal alongside creeping beatboxing synths in “Skin this Cat.” An unexpected winner is the slow build of “Fire with Fire,” which begins as a lameass piano/guitar ballad that burst halfway through into dance and violins, sounding as though it might have belonged in an inspirational coming-of-age film.

Perhaps because the Sisters’ choices of style and influence are so scattered on this album, Night Work’s imitations rarely feel like cheap or stale retrospectives. No matter how derivative the songs may be, the Scissor Sisters know how to make them work.