Junior

Product Details

JUNIOR is Royksopp's most accomplished release yet, an inspired and ambitious musical confection fusing pure pop hooks with "technoperatic" dancefloor slammers. Featuring a team of top female vocalists/collaborators including Swedish superstar Robyn, Lykke Li, Karim Dreijer (The Knife) as well as fellow Norwegian Annell Drecker (who appeared on Royksopp's debut Melody A.M.).

Product Reviews

(4 stars) - An album needn't be "difficult" to be great.
Reading the reviews here I get the sense that a lot of folks find the album too easy, too happy, and too poppy - as if a pop album is some sort of a condescension. What i'm saying is that just because a record is easy to enjoy on first listen it isn't necessarily throwaway. Royksopp have done something here that I daresay a lot of their peer groups will envy - they've put out a record with truly mass appeal. Great melodies, great hooks, airtight production. This album will sell songs and sellout concerts across europe that hipsters like you and I (admit it) would beg steal or borrow to attend.
'Happy up here' took me a few listens.. I first thought it an inferior 'eple'. Rather it's the albums bridge from Melody a.m. directly to Junior, the thicker beat giving it away. 'The Girl and the Robot' was my first favorite. The hook on this track is such heat; and its delivered by Robyn with a -forgive this- a melancholy sass that I figure pop queens world over (save, of course, for Gwen Stephanie) can only aspire to. At a party this is a floor filler. Same for 'Vision One' Here Royksopp get's as near as they will to Justice synths - something I found admirable considering the groups are more or less in the same league and Justice formula of sledgehammered beats on top of lightning stricken hi-hats has made them the more popular duo.. Justice may punch harder but I call Royksopp the more creative of the two.. (on a flight of fancy I once spent many minutes wondering which group would win in a fist fight. leather and denim notwithstanding it would almost certainly end in a draw) The track has bottom that you can feel in your chest, perfect for the dance floor. Plus the lyrics are actually pretty deep.
The instrumentals range from fair to very good - 'Royksopp Forever' is a simmering volcano and its payoff is a bomb orchestral with a nice heavy low end. I won't detail every track but suffice to say that by the time I got to 'True to Life', a dance track so hot it cancells out 'Royksopp's Night Out' I felt a little unworthy. Coming at the end of an already 4 star album the song feels like philanthropy. Here they focus mostly on the beat as if to say "no matter dope you tink your party was, it has not yet climaxed. Because THIS is the climax." The track is frankly stunning. I highly recommend this album.

(5 stars) - just keeps getting better!
Another great mix from this group. I could listen to this over and over. It moves and it is smooth!

(2 stars) - A Royksopp fan of their older work, but Junior was a disappointment
Melody A.M. was great electronic music. The understanding had likeable music and still kept the blend of creativity with the general trip hop feel that Royksopp brings, but with Junior, it just felt like commercialism was setting in. The instrumentals are about the only tracks I can stand. I feel bad for giving a low rating but at the same time it really is something that I don't appreciate and this album will not stand the test of time like their previous work. At least they do generally keep that sound that they are known for, and if you aren't a picky music listener like me, maybe you wouldn't mind this album, but don't be expecting anything ground breaking from a group that really made some great music in recent years past.

(5 stars) - Consistent Electro-Pop w Substance
Royksopp walk such a fine line with this release. Cheezy is so close but in reality so far away. One can tell how much time and effort went into this 2009 masterpiece. I'm not a 5star giver-outer, i'm usually quite ruthless, but this album does not have one weak track. Finding a genre for it is nearly impossible so i'll avoid that temptation. What it harkens is the last twenty years of pop electro based music reinterpreted in a 21st century fashion. Just pick it up, listen to it through completely, and you'll see how each track is densely layered and complex giving the synthesizers substance. The production quality is so high it really mocks everything heard on mainstream radio. Enjoy.

(3 stars) - I love this band
Don't get me wrong. I love this band. Many of the tracks on this album are collaborations with other artists (Robyn, Anneli Drecker, Karin Dreijer-Anderson and Lykke Li), however. I found none of those very interesting, with the exception of "Tricky Tricky" (Dreijer-Anderson), which is amusing. The band is better off on its own, as in the dark and brooding piece incongruously titled "Röyksopp Forever" and in "Happy up Here", which is indeed a very bouncy opening track.

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