Agoria – ‘The Green Armchair’ (PIAS) Released 23/10/06

French techno-meister Agoria, who also goes by the name of Sebastien Devaud, has his finger right on the pulse of the average directional-haircut sporting Hoxton trendy. His music is undeniably awkward and embraces the trendy wave of electro currently sweeping London with a tight narcotic-fuelled clinch.

The overall sound of ‘The Green Armchair’ then, is somewhere between techno and electro – a bit like Soulwax. On acid. Relentlessly paced, heavily reliant on harsh sounding synths and with occasional trippy female vocals, this is the wallpaper for your laaaarge Friday night out.

A track by track analysis of ‘The Green Armchair’ seems redundant. This is an album where each tune, all clearly engineered with the dancefloor in mind, sounds very much like any other. The basslines are dark and driving, the beats pumping and thus the only thing that really marks the difference between each track is the trivial – the percussion perhaps, or a particularly memorable vocal. One such track is ‘Your Inner Kiss’ which is the only tune with its focus very much on an operatic vocal together with some chaotic wails and a minimal, fractured beat. It’s a love song in its most electronic form, emotive in a melancholic yet mind-altering, robotic sort of way.

But getting swept away in that one track is futile. After Agoria has momentarily warn his heart upon his proverbial sleeve, a gaggle of more dirty and menacing ditties continue an assault on your already bleeding lugholes. That’s not to say this is a bad collection of music, it’s just a challenging listen. Not recommended for readers with a nervous disposition of any kind. Recommended for readers with a penchant for the kind of music that gets hyperbole-ridden reviews in the trendiest of trendy mags. And anyone with a deliberate ironic mullet.