Move over Daft Punk or should I say move over Arcade Fire’s latest incarnation? Because this ‘Better at Making Time’ song by De Lux sounded like some of LCD Soundsystem’s steamy dance floors. I saw the duo (although they actually were five on stage) at House of Blues a week ago, and since that time, I have noticed them in the music news as they are about to release their debut full-length on Innovative Leisure (Hanni El Khatib, Allah-Las, Nick Waterhouse).
Their set had a 80s-dance music revival flavor, no doubt about it, but at the same time it was complex, full of disco loops, funky bass, and even a bit tropical. It was at time so layered and buoyant than I had the impression they were playing several tracks at the same time, which would fit together like an awesome musical puzzle. It was a sort of amalgam of retro funk, a real new wave vibe and infectious guitar-synth complemented by strong vocals. The whole thing would have made anyone dance, and I don’t even like disco-dance-y music usually. It may have been the retro-side of their music that managed to capture my attention, as they sounded nothing like the current EDM scene, but beside James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem, I wrote in my notes Talking Heads and Nile Rodgers’ Chic… so either I was completely exaggerating things or these guys are totally good. These guys are actually multi-instrumentalists Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco, and they have made their new EP (before the release of their upcoming LP) available for free via Scion Audio Visual (‘a creative enterprise of Scion devoted to the discovery, nurture, funding and distribution of compelling music and arts programming’) website, so you can totally listen to it here.
I know that music recycle a lot but Guerin and Franco are way too young to have been alive in the 80s (they are only 22!) but they are undoubtedly able to build varied grooves as if they were re-making the soundtrack of Boogie Nights.
