Various Acts - 'Sonic Mook Experiment 3 - Hot Sh*t' (Mute)
3/5
By: Toby L
Don't worry. It's a London thing.
Quite how Sean Mclusky's Sonic Mook Experiment has been able to transcend to such present-day levels of utter cult-dom seems an unresolved mystery; it's hardly like matter such as this will continually reach mainstream radio, is it? Whatever the means to the success, there's no doubting the ever-amounting appreciation Mclusky's SME brand has generated, whether via sell-out UK tours, or hotly purchasable releases such as 'Hot Shit' - the latest in an increasing array of titles to feature his empire as part of its selling-point.
And, finally, the consensus for Sean's kingdom is becoming blisteringly more obvious - to inject a nationwide series of dancefloor-pogoers into a raving, flailing-limbs submission via obscure sound. Screw dance; when there's avant-garde schlock-rock with whizzing synths and squeaky hooks that any gorilla can bust a move to in abundance, whack this on any day. Yet, though it may succeed in a few gyrating pelvises, the only struggle is that Sonic Mook Experiment is simply too exclusive a club for all party-goers to revel amidst.
One of the troubles of a burgeoning rock-scene is the number of bandwagon-jumpers that it provokes, and the sheer army of hangers-on and cocaine-blizzards that trail alongside it. On occasion, 'Sonic Mook Experiment: Hot Shit' sounds precisely like all of the previous. Songs are seldom straightforward (save for the occasional Klang groove of 'Outside My Area' or all-out love-boogie of Pink Grease's 'Shake', let alone Yeah Yeah Yeah's landmark 'Machine' and Radio 4's testimonial 'Dance To The Underground'), and are - more often than not - half-finished, scrappy and wearingly novelty. And, honestly, it's hardly likely to take off in the provinces.
So, unless you don the right haircut, know the right people and the 'in-crowd', have your own charity-shop based fashion-designer and are studying for a degree in 'Blagging Into Gigs & Pretending You're Above It All, But Then Try & Get Backstage To Snog The Band-members Afterwards', then the allure of the 'Experiment just isn't worth, er, Mooking with.
But for those either too unconscious of the scene to care, or even those that are willingly happy to allot their personas into the prior paragraph, then this is a savvy collection of the names to define the dance-punk Crossover of '03 Underground; from !!!'s wailing 'Feel Good Hit Of The Fall', through to Valerie's laughable music-industry dig of 'Popstar' and Erase Errata's high-dosed energy kick of 'Other Animals Are No. 1', this couldn't be more now.
Trouble is, soon enough, tomorrow will be beckoning. And, then, this will be very much yesterday... After all, fashions do faze, darling. Enjoy the party while it lasts.
Artists in this article: Various Acts
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