Your friends, Simian Mobile Disco

The general critical talking-point about British electro duo Simian Mobile Disco’s debut long player Attack Decay Sustain Release is how it compares to French electro duo Justice’s †.

This has to be odd for anyone who’s listened to the two albums side by side. Though both bands are the poster children of blog house (definition: It’s like the Rapture, but with more drum machines), and they spiralled to fame together on last summer’s hipster bar smash, “We Are Your Friends,” they display very little musical similarity. Justice’s cuts are blunt, brutal and epic, like a woodsman’s hatchet; SMD’s are sexy, sleek and stylized, like a plastic surgeon’s laser. The British group’s music is unironically techno, embracing all the frequencies and techniques that synthesizers can provide. It’s less muscular, more creative, more nuanced and, frankly, more gay. For these reasons and others, I’ll assert that ADSR is the better album and will endure longer. † is great, don’t get me wrong, but failing to embrace at least some tropes of electronic music makes it clear that the album is merely homage – nay, pastiche.

Sadly, the album mostly compiles SMD’s singles, all of which were available well before the album’s release, but the rest of the record is solid winners as well. Rather than rehash those classics, here are a couple of the new tracks.

Simian Mobile Disco – I Got This Down
Simian Mobile Disco – I Believe

The motherfucker finally drops stateside on September 18.

***

Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming releases, or visit the Album Release Calendar.