Rex The Dog - The Rex The Dog Show (V2)
4/5
By: Dickon Stone
Peculiar.
That is one thing I have to point out about The Rex The Dog show. The album cover is cartooned, and leads you to believe you're about to listen to some sort of children's audio-book. What actually happens is...
Pretty cool, actually. Lots of chopped up sounds, heavy basslines; some of which verge on the wobbly joys of wonk and fidget house, and also a big slice of cheese is lovingly dropped into The Rex The Dog Show through samples that evoke mid-90's dance.
Perhaps this gives the impression that this is all a bit of a gimmick. The album is certainly poppy. In fact, yeah, occasionally it's so poppy it hurts. But who cares - for much of it, I suspect this will be a great launch pad for people who dabble in Hot Chip to move a step closer to really weird, but hugely rewarding, electro goodness.
Though Rex The Dog does leave a lot to be desired in terms of that giant leap to the big boys' playground, he's got an important role to play as stepping stone. It's far more Fedde Le Grand than Switch and Sinden, and there's most definitely a EuroTrance aspect to the entire album, though it remains oddly bearable.
'Heartsong' is a little funny slow thing that has taken a slight influence from the good fellows at 8bitpeoples; take a few things away, add a bit of Nintendo, and it could be Binarpilot. And then... interesting... a Sounds remix. And it's probably my favourite track on the album. Rex The Dog has really grabbed the camp-ness of the original and expanded on that in a sensible, sympathetic way which has not over-egged that air about the song.
It fits because I suppose The Rex The Dog Show is pretty camp all over really. But in an acceptable, and enjoyable way that would get you bopping your way through the monotony of a tube journey.
A blue rosette for the canine.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment