Fischerspooner - 'Odyssey' (EMI)
2/5
By: Joshua K
Right about now, the glossy music publications are likely telling you that Fischerspooner's second album is the perfect fusion of rock and dance, a warm and organic blend of art and artistry and a huge step forward from the cold, teutonic tones of their debut.
Whatever you do, this time, don't believe the hype. For Fischerspooner have become just like the music rags and pedestrian newspaper Arts sections that are surely now embracing them: corporate products that mistake true revolution for fake edginess and manufactured cool.
And, my oh my, how the once mighty electroclash titans have fallen. First album '#1' was a streamlined calling card that defined a genre by effortlessly mixing dance sounds with punk-rock rawness and a theatrical aesthetic. New single 'Just Let Go' recently raised appetites for a strong continuation of this approach - proffering a tight, energetic leap forward. It has proved, unfortunately, to be a red herring. For, with 'Odyssey', Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner have forsaken their prior approach to instead shill for a mainstream hit.
What this means: hiring roving pop-collaborator du jour Linda Perry for lyrical and melodic support, and Madonna producer Mirwais to add his staple, '70s-derived electronic blips and bloops. (A fitting irony, considering how much the musical content of Madonna's Mirwais-produced 'American Life' LP drew from '#1' and its ilk.)
Whereas once Fisherspooner had originality, or at the very least a highly energetic way of mashing-up previous trends, they now have misguided bloat. This new 'process' hits its nadir on track 'We Need A War', with lyrics - hackneyed anti-war saber-rattling written by American intellectual Susan Sontag - so trite that even Bono must be cringing. And the music? Think percussion worthy of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine... the wrong end of the '80s to be seeking inspiration from.
Elsewhere we get lyricism based on spam email, and music that falls somewhere between prog and vapid house. In other words, a far cry from the deliciously self-centered 'Emerge' all around.
Perhaps if LCD Soundsystem hadn't come along, this wouldn't sound so bleak. But he did. And it does. So spend your cash elsewhere.
Artists in this article: Fischerspooner
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