Datarock
Red
Release Date: Sep 1, 2009
Genre(s): Indie, Electronic
Record label: Nettwerk
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Album Review: Red by Datarock
Satisfactory, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7.2/10
Countless bands hedge their music with heaps of irony (arguably vice versa in some cases), but few buttress it with Datarock's technical prowess. Sure, the Norwegian duo has its eye-rolling moments about night flights to Uranus or dancing with their daddies, but they also sport some of the slickest dance production in the biz, not to mention their effortless traversing between neurotic post-punk licks and coked-to-the-gills 1980s synth pop. While convention would say sophomore LP Red will have its share of "growing up" moments, there's already something artistically mature and high-concept about two guys jury-rigging their own sub-genre of kitsch disco to one-up the legions of more "serious" Talking Heads/Eno knock-offs floating around today.
Based on rating 5/10
Norwegian duo Datarock were feted in the early noughties for delaying the demise of electroclash and masquerading as bellwethers of the disco punk revival that brought you Scissor Sisters’ Ta-Dah, Mika and the like. Donning hooded tracksuits and silly wraparound shades, Fredrik Saroea and Ketil Mosnes were superficial millennial Devo incarnates materialising from the cool of Bergen. Their tongues placed firmly in their cheeks, they had a field day playing faux gay to the bemusement of critics and listeners alike.
Based on rating 4.5/10
The members of Datarock seem to aspire to be a kind of new Devo, without so much Kraftwerk thrown in; in fact, their tendency toward rock instead of shimmery electronics is probably the thing keeping them from being shamefully derivative instead of acceptably derivative. The band's matching outfits certainly attest to this fact, and if vocalist Fredrik Saroea sang like a robot, the similarities would be overwhelming. Actually, if the standard, strutting, male dance-rock vocal sounds robotic to you, then there's a pretty good chance that this is an analogy that you've already made.
Opinion: Excellent
WHITNEY HOUSTON“I Look to You”(Arista) Without adversity, a diva is just a singer. It’s the back story, the tale of struggle and tenacity, that draws audiences to read more than musicianship into her performances. The singer touches on something personal so the listener can feel like a ….