Coming out of Shepparton is Muscles, a new act that has been attracting a huge amount of attention for a one-man show. On his debut album Guns Babes And Lemonade, Muscles combines lo-fi house, techno, a touch of acid and trance resulting in a mess of sounds that might start your party or put a sharp end to it.

The opening tack and one of the singles to be lifted from the album, Sweaty, is an anti-PLUR rampage with one of the most annoying vocal tracks I have heard in a long time. The novelty of the chanting wears off very quickly, the only redeeming thing about this track is the guitar line which is quite edgy. However, another single to be lifted from the album, Ice Cream, is a much more palatable. Keeping in his vocal range gives a much better result for Muscles’ unique voice which is accentuated by the punchy synths. The Lake is quite a different journey from the other tracks, and the trancey synths are unfortunately ruined by Muscles again attempting to hit all too high notes.

I guess my favourite track on here would have to be Lauren From Glebe: a great chorus line and a steady broken beat work well together. And I love the title. I also dug Marshmallow, some decent electronica that sounds a lot more polished than the other jumble of sounds. The album closes out with the pop stylings of Hey Muscles I Love You, there is a pretty cool bass line on this one.

This album didn’t appeal to me at all: Muscles show promise but a lot of his tracks sound like he has just hit randomize on his sequencer and seen what has come out. Kudos to him for being a one-man show, but his vocal talent leaves a lot to desired. Some people may dig his messy sounds but I found it highly irritating.

In a word: Rough.