Capital Cities – Kangaroo Court

Every genre needs its own version of Cake. Discuss.

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[5.27]Patrick St. Michel: Get used to these guys, at least if you plan on going to any music festivals in the next year. Capital Cities are practically designed to be the optimal side-stage outfit, the late-afternoon set that will stick with you without causing you to bail on Arcade Fire or whatever. They are synth-pop’s answer to Cake (see that horn, used in every song), filling their set with some sub-Lonely-Island lolz tracks while also working in numbers like this. “Kangaroo Court,” like all their non jokey numbers, is perfectly acceptable electro-pop better than a lot of similar outfits. It won’t have you scurrying to the merch table, but if you have an hour to kill and aren’t hungry, you could do worse than to check them out.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Someone deserves credit for the cornet, Holy Ghost! sequencer, daft conceit, and Killers vocal. What do you do with this shit though?
[4]

Anthony Easton: I was in a Portuguese chicken place in Mile End, eating my roasted potatoes with extra piri piri, and I heard “Blurred Lines” back to back with “Get Lucky,” which reinforced my thesis, constructed at a tiny record store near my place in Holchelaga, that disco won. (The record store had 8 racks of pure disco). This provides further evidence.
[8]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Intricately processed if not performed, devoid of much beyond its sleekness and a brass solo necessary for any “Midnight City” comparisons (but, like, that song knocks and this doesn’t).
[5]

Edward Okulicz: I’m a sucker for a hook that tells me to shut up, and this one is a Kelly Osbourne-level doozy, and fuck you if you don’t read that as a compliment. I also find the overegged use of internal rhyme in each verse adorable, like a laughably bad attempt to be Neil Tennant that has its own weird charm. That rapidly-deflating balloon break in the middle is kind of shocking though.
[7]

Crystal Leww: I’ve listened to this song three times, and the parts of the song that I think are supposed to be charming like the horns and the “kangaroo court” and the girl’s laughter interlude just get more and more annoying. I still don’t know what the hell this song is talking about.
[4]

Brad Shoup: Cat and I were wondering what the awful song was on 103.1 that kept telling us to shut up shut up shut up. Our tolerance for New Wave glosses is awfully strong, and I do love horn solos on rock songs, but I can’t get past their concept of a hook.
[1]

Mallory O’Donnell: They haven’t really outgrown their basic template of 2003-electropop-indie-with-postpunk-horns, but those are both things that I like, so no matter how charmless this actually is, I will struggle to enjoy it. And be a little bit surprised, because I disliked their last and expected to dislike this. But that’s the extent of it. One can’t afford to get too excited.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: “Landfill synthpop” returns only two results (well, more now.) I find that stunning.
[5]

Will Adams: “Kangaroo Court” has unassuming verses that can’t keep pace with the fantastic chorus, where those bubbling synths take on a busier arrangement. Still, it’s a fine piece of sleek electropop that I can’t believe they sat on while the flimsy snooze that was “Safe and Sound” blared out of every alternative station.
[7]

Juana Giaimo: This song is like its synth solo: on the first listen it passes unnoticeably, on the following ones it starts being slightly annoying.
[5]