MSTRKRFT - 'The Looks' (Modular) Released 26/02/07

When Primal Scream, sorry Prml Scrm, got rid of vowels for their 2001 masterpiece ‘Xtrmntr’ it was because the letters in Countdown that aren’t the consonants were “fascist”, which was all very radical and political of them. Mstrkrft on the other hand have probably done the same thing simply because it looks cool. Because Mstrkrft are a very ‘cool’ band.

Having remixed everyone from Bloc Party to The Gossip, with one half of the duo having spent a past life within the similarly raw and mainlined aestheticism of Death From Above 1979 (whilst the other half produced that band’s sucker-punch debut ‘You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine’), Mstrkrft are the new, Hoxton-friendly Daft Punk. Or is that Crystal Castles? Either way ‘The Looks’ is a big deal, as it’s the first (wholly original) salvo from the feted two.

In fact the Daft Punk reference, as every other article on Mstrkrft is obliged to point out, isn’t actually far off the mark. For a start there’re two of them, and they both like to be photographed wearing stupid masks. More importantly though they share the same hard-edged future-sexy way with techno that the French dance icons honed (and quickly lost) on their excellent 2001 record ‘Discovery’ (check ‘Easy Love’ for instant proof). Single-minded and sandpapered to a fine, filtered glisten, ‘The Looks’ is essentially a regressive take on dance, but one that is no less enjoyable for that very reason (the guitars of ‘Street Justice’, or the bubblegum-cheerleaders centre stage on ‘She’s Good For Business’ are worth the price of admission alone).

To his credit Jesse (the DFA 1979 guy) seems aware of Mstrkrft’s limitations, comparing house music to AC/DC in a recent interview (“It’s got straight four-to-the-floor drums, looping riffs, soulful vocals and it’s controlled but heavy”) and neatly surmising the fact that Mstrkrft are neither godawful scene pastiche (She Wants Revenge, we mean you!), or electronic pioneers. They’re the Ronseal of vocodered disco, French house and, only once, those moronic Ministry compilations (avoid ‘Neon Knights’): sounding how you’d expect, dancing how they like, whilst mourning the death of Trash. Vowels = overrated.