| Attack Decay Sustain Release |
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Product Details
Dance music should be pretty simple. Take one good slice of melody, surround it with atmosphere and attitude, then add layer after layer of gripping, stomping rhythms…, OK, maybe it's not that simple. But James Shaw and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco make a strong argument for simplicity on their stripped-down debut record. The production duo, who formerly worked together in the psychedelic electronica outfit Simian, have downsized their approach and created a piece of acid house/techno that profits greatly from an uncluttered, direct mindset. From an influence/genre perspective, there's nothing direct about it at all, actually. There are dashes of early Aphex Twin, more than a little Daft Punk, and some 808 State to boot. But it's all mixed up with breezy electro-styled production, which gives the music a sparse and snappy pulse that creates space and complements the duo's songwriting. There are times when it doesn't work, as the boys have cranked the mid-range so high it can sound tinny and hollow; "Tits & Acid" should be a stomper, but somehow never really takes off. Other songs are compromised by the choice to crank the vocals so hot in the mix, like "Hotdog," which can't hide its too-silly central lyric. Still, when it works, it really works. Shaw and Ford understand the need to evolve a song, as tracks like "It's The Beat" and the wonderful, whirligig "Wooden" start here and end up over there. Your love affair with Attack Decay Sustain Release may be more like a one-night stand and you'll probably hate yourself in the morning, but your regret will be tempered by a silly grin that won't fade until lunchtime, at least. --Matthew Cooke
Product Reviews
 (3 stars) - Half as good as it could have been
This album is a mixed bag. Half of it is quite good while the other half is pretty awful. I applaud SMD for trying the electro/acid house sound. As this album displays they're successful about 50% of the time. The tracks which stayed on my iPod are rated below while the rest were pulled off after one listen. Hustler, Tits & Acid and It's The Beat (even though it sounds cheesy like Technotronics "Pump Up The Jam" it's horribly catchy) were the stand out tracks for me. Below are my ratings;
1. Sleep Deprivation 7/10
2. I Got This Down 8/10
3. It's The Beat 9/10
4. Hustler 10/10
5. Tits & Acid 10/10
6. I Believe skip
7. Hotdog skip, absolutely the worst track on the album.
8. Wooden 7/10
9. Love skip
10. Scott skip
11. Clock skip
12. System skip
Overall the album is worth a listen and a few of tracks might stick with you like they did with me. There's nothing ground breaking here but clearly SMD has talent, even if it's hit and miss.
 (5 stars) - Pure Dance Goodness
This CD can't help but make you move. A solid overall compilation. Great for parties or for any time you want to feel good.
 (4 stars) - Great Album
Solid album all the way through. If you like Justice or Digitalism then this will fit nicely next to them on the shelf.
(3 stars) - Hot Dog?
It is my opinion that Simian Mobile Disco is the new "cool" thing to listen to among the artists or underground crowd. It is hard for me to state that objectively since I am a part of that demographic and am exposed to all sorts of music that I assume everyone already knows about, and most of my peers do.
ADSR is a pretty good album, they jump start with you with "Sleep Deprivation" which is probably the best track on the album. It's quite dancy, but trickles into that weird singy-poppy house music bracket. I'm a really big fan of their mixes like "Suck My Deck" or "Cornerstone #39", which I think is where they really shine. I'd opt to find one of their mixes rather than this.
This album has some great hits on it, and is good car listening music or put on and forget... but... there's better techno out there.
(3 stars) - A Barrel (Half) Full of Monkeys
I was never a big fan of the original Simian, although I did like a few of their songs (the best of which were often featured on car or soap commercials). Their music had an electro-epileptic tweakiness to it, as if in the search of the perfect minimalist hook, all they could come up with was the aural equivalent of a nervous tic.
Simian Mobile Disco features a longer name but half as many members. Having fewer cooks means the broth has more creative spice to it, but there's still that odd, underformed flavor. The duo of Ford and Shaw are still bravely blazing the techno corridors of pulled-back pop, but that means the album as a whole sounds like a case of trial and error. It's not like I fault the disc for lacking any kind of consistent sound, but I do fault it for its inconsistent quality.
I wish I could say what cripples it most, but there's no pattern to it. The songs that work range from jaw-busting dance ("Sleep Deprivation" and "It's the Beat," which has a cameo by Ninja from The Go! Team) to a sort of floofy, fun house trance ("Clock," which reminds me a lot of the lighter stuff by TFSOL, and "Scott"). I really like how they play with shaved off sound, techno-tinctured tinbeats sparkling along the groove lines of the songs.
But, overall, the album's wings are crippled by a basic lack of borders. Every once in a while you'll catch a track that has a high-sheen vocal track that's so silly and tired that the rather nice electronic backdrop is drowned out ("Love," for my part, being the best -- or worst -- example of this.) And, worse, some of the songs stale quite fast. On my first listen, I kind of liked "I Got This Down," but on my second time around, I wondered how anyone who wasn't drunk could find it enjoyable on any level.
On the whole, I won't say it's a bad album, but it fails to inspire any of the things its genre flopping songs want it to. And if the title is any indication of the record's goals, I'll say, for now, only one of those words is apt.
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