And the second of the Record Store Day releases….
[Video][Website]
[5.78]
Edward Okulicz: A meek, yet melodious take on… 90s Italo-house? I guess Little Boots had been listening to an awful lot of that second Alphabeat album. But then again, I did too.
[7]
Alfred Soto: A post-house update of Bacharach-David sounds luscious, especially if the singer evokes Sarah Cracknell. Where’s the rest of it though?
[5]
Anthony Easton: It’s a museum piece of elegantly preserved Anglophilic dance music, but I am in love with Anglophilic dance music and so I cannot be too angry at the historicised nature of this kind of discourse.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Rarely does prayer sound so much like getting a busy signal.
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: Having failed at dance-pop, Little Boots is now going full dance. In practice, this just means she’s competing not with La Roux but with Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Saint Etienne, plus a chorus three sizes too big for her boots; but those at least are worthy opponents, and house pianos and synth cowbells able weapons.
[7]
John Seroff: My love for Alphabeat-y corny retread burns brightest (and possibly only) when the artist’s key additive is joy. “Every Night” is dutifully period specific but it’s also resolutely bloodless and without charm. It is evocative, but only of the party-stopping effluvia that bumped us out of the skating rink to go play a few games of Galaga.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: I’m tempted to go higher just because this is a much better conversion of ca.-1990 Madonna into present pop than what was going on last year, not to mention what happened earlier this year, but on the other hand it is just a conversion of ca.-1990 Madonna into present pop.
[7]
Sabina Tang: The Delerium-esque verse lulls one into pleasant inattention, so the hooky electro-pop chorus turns up as a surprise. After a few runs, though, this seems less like intent and more like a disconnect.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: If only Little Boots’s voice could summon up the exuberance of her house piano. It is a terribly plucky effort at sounding excited.
[4]