Music should be fun, right? It should put a smile on your face; induce you to dance / sing. In fact, it should be just like it is on this album.
Liverpool DJ Sonny J has produced an eclectic array of twelve tracks, each so diverse from the other that there is not one dull moment within the forty-nine minutes running- time. (OK so the slow, introspective and rather downbeat ‘Sorrow,’ seems a little out of place and a prime candidate for the fast-forward button, but it certainly illustrates that Sonny J is more than a mere button-twiddler and fader-pusher.)
Opening track ‘Enfant Terrible, sounds like an Apollo 440 / The Mighty Dub Katz collaboration featuring rapping French schoolchildren, interspersed with Space Invader type sound effects. So sets the tone for what follows! (Incidentally, the re-mix by The Shortwave Set as featured on the single version earlier this year is well worth checking out.)
‘I’m So Heavy,’ takes the form of an intercepted telephone conversation between a band member and an audition-seeking psychotic bass player. ‘Handsfree,’ changes the tone completely, with female vocals in the style of a grand Sixties production with a quiet country and western feel bubbling below the surface. This fades into ‘Cabaret Short Circuit,’ which is perhaps difficult to take too seriously if you have listened to anything by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band!
‘Belly Bongo,’ is a light- hearted, almost frivolous track echoing the sound of the Sixties (complete with the sound of vinyl static) and with traces of the Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin hit, ‘Je t’aime’. (Some may also remember ‘Psyche Rock,’ several years ago by French duo Pierre Henry & Michel Colombier that could also be used as a point of reference to this and a couple of other tracks on the album.)
‘Can’t Stop Moving,’ which was a bit of a single hit last year is also included on the album. Instrumentally like the Go Team’s ‘Ladyflash,’ the vocals are like a very young Michael Jackson with a Seventies-style female backing group. It’s easy to see why this track garnered so much positive feedback and set Sonny J on his way.
‘Strange Things,’ believe it or not is pretty much a straight-up pop song in that there is nothing quirky here. ‘Doing The Tango,’ says it all. Imagine being in a dimly lit, sweaty Argentinean bar at the turn of the century… but with a drum machine, electronic keyboard and a mixing desk!
‘No-fi,’ has a smooth hip-hop beat overlaid with Professor Stephen Hawking type spoken vocals. Title track ‘Disastro,’ is like a funked-up soundtrack to a Seventies American cop series. But that is to over-simplify of course. It’s a really busy track with lots going on.
‘Sonnrise,’ closes the album. It’s the longest track of the twelve and has a real country feel to it, between the guitar and vocals which sound so like Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay.’ However, this is 2008 and there are lots of bleeps and synths and stuff going on as well.
All in all, this is an excellent album. I can’t say fairer than that!
//Colin Jackson