Released 23/11/09, Marine Parade


Alex Metric is, among other things, a DJ on Radio 1; a convenient place to be as the title song on his new ‘It Starts’ E.P would be right at home there.  It’s choppy, it’s catchy, setting up shop somewhere between the pop affectations of Calvin Harris and the sombre electro indie of current Bloc Party (which fits rather nicely considering 'Party member Russell Lissak provides the guitars for young Alex).  

Its got a big chunky chorus, primarily with the words- you guessed it-’ ‘it starts’ on a incessant loop.  Backed by some ferocious guitars and some vaguely disorientating, rewind-y sounds, its one for the lads and the ladies getting ready to be friends and binge.

Second song ‘Discotron’, despite having a great name,  is not as instantly accessible with hard drums and handclaps kicking things off before everything goes a bit future-rock.    One suspects its actually got more legs though,  and will be a bigger favourite in the clubs.

‘Gusto’ pounds along with (sorry) gusto, but much more besides. It’s got some brilliantly dirty synths and which all clash and sync together at the chorus; it’s ear-splitting and resembles white noise, to an extent that is almost unpleasant.  Thankfully, Alex the kid pulls things up at the right time and what we are left with is what I think the dance fraternity would call a ‘banger’.

Evil Nine deliver a slowed down version of ‘It Starts’ to finish things off, and don’t really bring anything new to the table.  Of course, this argument could be levelled at all of the tracks because we’ve heard this a hundred times before.  Despite that its still fun and, especially when things get a bit mucky on ‘Gusto’, there’s enough to distance it from the somewhat soulless pop-electro stylings that dominate the airwaves at the moment.

Posted In Single Reviews, Nov 23 2009. Words - Jimbo