The Scientists Of Modern Music
Electronic Sunset

Yet another electro-rock duo going for yet another retroactive ride on the Moroder tip. This time the culprits are from Tassie and despite their slick pop production, there’s one catch. Goofy vocoder in five of the EP’s seven tracks. Meh! Don’t get me wrong, vocoders are dope when used in moderation. Herbie Hancock used them sparingly to add a clinical edge and Polysics rock them effectively for melodic support, but here they just make the music anonymous. It’s a shame too, because you only need to listen to the title track to realise that this is more than soulless sex-tech and that these are brethren capable of writing galactic melodies that glide over smashing progressions like spinning ribbons.

Track two (amusingly titled ‘Number One’), features a refrain of “Science/blood/science/blood” that manages to make these two vital concepts seem utterly banal by the track’s close. The guitars have an almost nu-metal heaviness – think Mechanical Animals with added roboslop. The Elecricramjet remix of ‘Easy’ is tight club electro, minimal and prim, but there’s still that obtrusive vocoder to deal with. To what end? Here at Mess+Noise, we generally don’t use a ‘star system’ to rate releases. To hell with that, I’m giving Electronic Sunset four of the sparkly little buggers. Whether that’s out of a possible five or ten depends on your love of presets. And I’m referring to both default settings and that polarising Sydney duo.

by Adrian Trajstman