| Summary: Dance! Everybody dance! |
It may be 2008, but no one's told Andrew Butler. This New York DJ/Producer, under the pseudonym 'Hercules and Love Affair', likes to rock like it’s 1977, providing Carter administration survivors with some good material for nostalgic journeys into the days of bell bottoms, roller derbies, and the occasional boogie night. With Hercules and Love Affair, Butler brings disco into the new millennium hard and strong. Disco is defined as “a style of popular music for dancing, usually recorded and with complex electronic instrumentation, in which simple, repetitive lyrics are subordinated to a heavy, pulsating, rhythmic beat”, and Butler sets out to deliver just that; not a bastardized “update” on the genre, but a proper record that nails every aspect of what has given disco the reputation it's garnered over time as an insanely guilty pleasure.
Disregard all the negative connotations associated with disco for a moment. This may be the same music that caused riots in Chicago ballparks in 1979 during the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” fiasco, but on the self titled debut, Hercules and Love Affair breaks down the genre to its original philosophy: "Only when you're dancing are you truly free." Sure to incite the occasional spasmodic Caucasian hump-dance, Hercules and Love Affair runs from start to finish unabashedly in groove-heaven, pimped out with horns, octave hopping bass-lines, and uhn-tiss-kaht-tiss beats out the wazoo. Featuring the more than capable voices of Antony (of “& the Johnsons” fame), solo siren Nomi, and the seductive Kim Ann, Butler's record sports ten consistently charming tracks that prove monstrously entertaining. Take for example the lead single “Blind”; laden with hooks and a layered lung stretching vocal performance from the male third of the vocal trio, “Blind” serves as an appropriate choice lead single, introducing listeners to the Hercules and Love Affair sound with a pulsating beat that envelops as much as it grooves. Even at a deceptive six minutes long, “Blind” never grows tiring, instead providing seemingly endless amounts of dance-floor joy, perfectly embodying what Butler attempts to create with his Hercules and Love Affair experiment.
Butler doesn’t disappoint on the remainder of the record either, consistently delivering romps that would make even the most demanding of disco-purists proud. The pair of Greco-Roman themed tracks, “Hercules’ Theme” and “Athene”, are rev-ups of Butler’s delicious indulgences that provide appropriate theme songs to the characters who are attributed to their respective namesakes. The former struts confidently like a half-god would (with an insanely catchy chorus), whereas “Athene”, named after the goddess of wisdom and fertility, uses Ann’s sly purr and conga-heavy rhythms to underscore the sense of ridiculous power. Tracks such as these would normally lodge themselves into heads for days, but for each exceptionally captivating groove, there’s one equally as catchy later. “Hercules’ Theme” epitomizes what Hercules and Love Affair wants to be, with catchy danceable flows and oodles of hypnotic hooks, but “You Belong” stands equally as strong at the very next track. Driven by tribal chants, plenty of Christopher Walken-endorsed percussion, and an ethereal performance from Antony that makes for 4 minutes of foot tapping pleasure, "You Belong" serves as the focal point for the album's opening quintet, and what a set of tunes it is. The first five tracks of the album are pure dynamite, with tracks like "Time Will" and "Blind" playing with Antony's voice like a kid with a new toy, and with the aforementioned tracks "Hercules' Theme" and "Athene" providing the motif Hercules and Love Affair prefers to adopt without sacrificing the euphoric atmosphere the remainder of the record sits so comfortably in. The opening half exemplifies the best of Hercules and Love Affair; danceable, fun, and even a little quirky, all the while providing an entertaining experience that begs to be heard.
While the loose Greek mythology concept introduced in “Hercules’ Theme” and “Athene” is abandoned for most of the album, the tone is not; each song on Hercules an Love Affair in its own way carries a certain sense of confidence that's easy enough to relate to. This provides a key aspect to Hercules and Love Affair’s charm: at its peak, the album is pure entertainment, a feel-good record that provides almost an hour’s worth of dance-hall bliss. The pacing of Hercules and Love Affair serves as one of the album’s few flaws –it feels like its winding down with half the record left to play- but there’s no denying the value of the record as a whole. Hercules and Love Affair is a killer work from Butler, an album not meant to break down any barriers or start a revolution. Yet in an age with 70’s soul revivals from the likes of Amy Winehouse and rock touch-ups from groups like Wolfmother and even The Strokes to an extent, Hercules and Love Affair throws in its hand as a revivalist for the one of the 70’s most infamous productions with a record that can diagnose even the most jaded of modernists with a mild case of boogie fever.
|
cool review, however I didn't like their myspace song.
Digging: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
| | |
good review, but what I've heard from this sounds like ****.
Digging: Portishead - Third
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
you kids clearly don't like to dance.
Digging: Spokes - People Like People Like You | | |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdlMNbMdfSs
Digging: The Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life
| | |
I knew the summary was from rejected.
| | |
that video was oddly worth my time.
this is snappy stuff... i agree with the review because this might unhinge hips on some hipsters
ps !!!
Digging: Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
| | | Album Rating: 3
I didn't like this much. I find the tracks catchy and such, but it just feels oddly timid. Like weak versions of a livelier pop song.
Digging: Animal Collective - Feels | | |
^^i can see where you're coming from. it sounds better with good headphones though.
plug in some !!!
that's my dance music... even though they tour with tools
| | |
kinda meh. it has its good parts. probably like a 2.5-3 for me.
Digging:
| | | Album Rating: 4
Te production is off the charts. Sometimes the songs seam a bit timid. I don't know, this album really faded away fast. I haven't picked it up for weeks. It isn't no Sound of Silver. Tyler Pope's basslines are great though.
Digging: Portishead - Third | | | Album Rating: 3.5
Hah, some of the melodies sound like their right out of Jame Murphy's sound catalog, I've only heard this once at a mates place, but i liked what i heard.
Digging: Organized Konfusion - Organized Konfusion | | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
First metacritic nod, that's pretty cool :'). I didn't think they'd pickup on this considering it was released a few weeks ago.
| | |
You looked up disco on wikipedia didn't you
Digging: Republic Of Loose - VOL IV: Johnny Pyro And The Dance Of Evil
| | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
dictionary.com, actually.
I wiki'd disco demolition night though, because I remembered from a sportscenter some ridiculous promotion that ended unsurprisingly in riots.
Just wanted to do a little research to get a frame of reference.
This Message Edited On 04.07.08
| | |
Haven't heard it, but it is surely is a contender for both worst band name and worst cover art of the year.
Digging: Salmonella Dub - Inside The Dub Plates
| | | Album Rating: 5
the more i listen to this album the better it gets. this has grown into a 5 for me
| | | Album Rating: 3
EC when you prescribed this band for me I thought you meant two separate bands "Hercules" and "Love Affair". I was shocked to hear prog-metal when I downloaded a "Hercules" album and played it in my car today...
Digging: Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People | | | Album Rating: 4 | Sound Off
are you gonna download this now? I'm not sure how you can dance to prog metal.
This Message Edited On 05.08.08
| | | Album Rating: 3
this is good. some songs are really great
| | |
|
|
