Since I am now a world famous blogger (people from Andorra, St. Kits and Nevis, South Korea, Finland and Germany have all read this blog!) and Des Moines’ ninth most trusted music journalist (probably), I get lots of random bands who follow me on Twitter. Sometimes, I even listen to their music. I figured I would start highlighting some of them in a new feature I call Unsolicitation Theater. Today we highlight Austin, TX’s Eleven:Eleven.
Disco is dead. That is what I have been told my whole life. It was taken apart by talented new wave artistes and taken behind the woodshed and shot by heavy metal. It was carved up and fed to Blackie Lawless’ pigs. I grew up being told that disco was the bastard child of music genres by my Scorpions loving father. I hated disco so much growing up that I would always giggle in French class when they talked about the discotheque. Silly Europeans, still listening to disco. But like most things from my childhood, I was pretty much wrong.
While I still don’t think I could sit around and listen to Vicki Sue Robinson or anything, I can now at least appreciate that disco music is pretty much the pre-evolution of our modern day dance music. The technology has improved so much now that a song can have that bass vibe of The Trammps, without the cheesiness of the overblown horns. So, when I hear a group like Eleven:Eleven come around with their synth production and sultry lady voice, I can appreciate where it came from and respect the genre a little more. It has taken me a while, but I have finally started to come around.
While the disco vibe is in full effect, the production on the track is a lot darker and more refined. I was a bit nervous listening to it, because when you see a pretty girl with a slightly mysterious ethnic origin (the band page says her name is Sicca, but some light to medium Facebook stalking lead me to find her name is not actually that and is much more traditional, so I’m still not sure), and kind of a goofy song title, the potential for eye rolling trash is high. But all in all this wasn’t bad. The production, while simple, is really mean sounding, which gives the music a bit more of an edge than the bubble gum it could be. Sicca’s voice, while heavily produced, is angelic at times, and slightly creepy at others. I would recommend it, and could see this played while strobe lights blast and you wonder how the hell you ended up in this joint anyway. So yeah, I like disco a little more now. I’d say don’t tell my father, but I found a Cher CD in his car the other day, so he’s got nothing to talk about.
(While the review is based on the song “Electric Sex”, I also gave a listen to their remix of Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream”. That song rules, and their remix of it is actually really good and does a lot of justice to the original. So, bully for them and a hat tip to their producer J. Childs.)
You in a band? Want to send me a song? Follow me on Twitter.God, I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?
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