Who Made Who - The Plot (Gomma)
3/5
By: Dickon Stone
For a band who have support slots with Soulwax, Justice and LCD Soundsystem tucked neatly under their belt, I was a little intrigued by the opening to Who Made Who's new album The Plot, which begins with a bizarre woodwind orchestral composition.
'TV Friend' then bursts into action; a falsetto-vocal backed, deep-vocal fronted bouncing-climbing-bassline plod-fest; the song teams soothing airy synth with electro-beat constant kick drum; a classic disco number in the bracket with material from bands such as Midnight Juggernauts and The Faint.
Utilising what sounds like funked-up muted-garage-rock guitars, Who Made Who retain a certain rock-ness to the entirety of The Plot; with widely ranging pitch to the vocals, simple synthesised bass lines matched with real bass guitar and real drums rather than those which are clearly electronic; there certainly is a great variety of method to the instrumentation of these tracks.
Sometimes employing wailing guitar, sometimes with vocal layering to similar effect of much Queens Of The Stone Age, The Plot isn't short on pop wizardry either. A highly eclectic selection of disco, pop, rock and funk that delivers in the same way Hot Chip did when they first began to hit the big time... but dare I say that this Who Made Who album is arguably more entertaining and vibrant...
Sampling conga drums in the same vein as road-mates Soulwax, they'll then throw in a simple polyrhythm to keep the music geeks happy. There's a great stink of Parisian lounge rattling around this Danish delight; it is almost impossible to stop your head nodding at what I estimate to be a steady average 115 BPM for the duration of the album. Perfect for this summer, perfect for a stoned prance around a dance floor; and still with that hint of Kyuss or even Black Sabbath on the stoner rockfish, sexily distorted guitars looming in the corners of several tracks. If someone tossed Josh Homme a drum machine and a few generic dance anthem CDs and told him to go and make an album I am almost certain this is what he would hand back a few weeks later.
All these good points aside; Who Made Who are certainly not breaking any boundaries. This kind of music has been going for a long time, and the market seems to continue to be flooded with it. It is perhaps lucky that The Plot is probably one of the finer examples of this indie-electro-disco melange that seems to becoming the new alternative pop.
(Even the little messages telling me that this CD is a promo copy have been beatmapped and chopped tastefully so as to not interrupt my listening experience too much, despite warning me about possible prosecution should I allow the album to be copied...)
'Ode To joy' combines sampled harp, synth strings - not unlike those you might find in the 'Clockwork Orange' soundtrack - beautiful clean vocals, crisp bass guitar and yet at the same time bringing in chopped up noises and vocalisations which just add that touch of yumminess to the end result.
There are certainly a few points where I think "hmm, really?" and feel a little let down by the obviousness or what not of certain tracks or melodies, but then... it is a pop record... so yeh, why not? The Plot satisfies on so many levels; it is simple music I suppose, but it is good simple music - and what more could you ask for this summer?
Artists in this article: Who Made Who
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment