Sneaky Sound System - Self-Titled
Having enjoyed considerable success in their native Australia and toured with the likes of Robbie Williams and Sam Sparro, electro-dance trio Sneaky Sound System are just about ready to take centre stage with their self-titled UK debut.
The curtain lifts quite predictably with the band's forthcoming UK single I Love It, which conincidentally holds the record for longest charting single in Australian history at 73 weeks. A genuine party-starter with its groovy beat and infectious tune, there couldn't have been a more suitable opener.
Likewise, UFO, which once had the honour of becoming a Radio 1 Weekend Anthem, sashays across the dancefloor with 'that look' in its eye - it's determined to make you dance - but it doesn't once sound desperate. Nothing is overdone, which is pretty rare in this corner of the music map.
Kansas City continues with the same slinky expression, musically mixing the raw sound of Rogue Traders with the respect-demanding attitudes of CSS and Ladyhawke. They make dance music that's enjoyable, not only on the dancefloor, but in the privacy of the bedroom or through headphones on the bus.
The only real contender for album 'filler' material comes in the form of the aptly experimental Lost In The Future. Sounding a little too much like a Mighty Boosh concoction with its heavy use of robotic vocal effects, it's certainly not the strongest track here. Similarly, Don't Get You feels a bit too much like a tense build-up to something that never happens.
What Sneaky Sound System have done in creating this record is made dance music accesible to a whole legion of musiclovers who would historically have avoided the genre for its over reliance on sexual innuendo and naughty videos. Sure, some songs are better than others, but taken as a whole it's a smashing debut from an unexpectedly great band.
Rating: 4/5
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Anthony Hill