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(Hydrogen Dukebox/Inertia)
For a tech-head, I’ve been listening to a lot of electro recently – probably too much, so when this review CD landed, I wasn’t too excited. The whole electro-clash thing appealed at first, but like candy-floss, quickly lost its retro, naive attraction and became cloying and self-conscious. But A1 People have come of age with this, their third and best album – perhaps it is why they have cheekily echoed the name of the Beatles’s most successful album?
This is electro, but it is also fresh, alive and vibrant. Yes, you can hear the retro plinking of the Casio-Tone – one of the best tracks is titled Casio Rock after their regular Wednesday night in the legendary Dogstar pub in Brixton, London. But you can also hear 808 drum machines, and Fender guitars, scratched turntables, synthesizers analogue and digital – they have listed all of their hardware used on the album, proving that techno has no monopoly on geekdom. The music sings – live bass and guitar add a human element while the mechanical elements of electro such as the simple drum patterns and vocodered voices are offset by sparkling synthesisers. Crazy Electro Music is not just a track, but a description of the album – Simeon Bowring, Tom Crook & D-Zine have put together an album that is both informed by the past and completely original. If you’ve ever wondered where Kraftwerk would have gone if they hadn’t spent the last 20 years obsessively polishing 3 tracks but had been out there playing to real people, The Yellow Album provides a clue.
There is something in here for everyone – this is the kind of crossover music that you can use to turn pop-fans onto quality music. My personal favourite was the linear, dark & techy Evel Knievel, but the quality overall is exceptionally good – this is superbly produced modern electro of the highest order. Get it.
