Radioclit - Secousse All Stars (Ghettopop Records)
Laura Bruneau | Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Tribal in feel, Radioclit connect African drumming to the primal urges present in modern day dance music. Deep bass and complex drum beats, so common to clubs, throb at our innermost fundamental desires. Radioclit use them here to provide a steady heartbeat to their music that pulsates through the brain and blood of their listener.
At one moment, playing with Middle Eastern riffs on keyboards, the next bringing in rhythmic clapping and tuned percussion over synths, Radioclit's core flaw is being drawn in too many directions at once. Secousse All Stars' focus is dissipated and there is no sense of identity for the EP. By trying to be too many things at once, Radioclit instead provide us with a confused assembly of styles and sounds.
Mixing a Caribbean limbo beat with different dance styles, the definition between tracks is more of a case of tone rather than radical re-workings. Problematically, the variation internally within tracks adds to the inability to separate the individual versions from one another. Unafraid of reinterpretation, the majority of Radioclit's work is comprised of remixes of other artists' work and, perhaps partly due to this, they seem incapable of providing any true innovation on their own EP.
Despite the superficial compartmentalisation of music in society, such divisions are too rigid to encompass the flexibility of expression present in our culture. Fusion music has the ability to tear down these barriers but Radioclit's attempt holds different styles in its hand without properly integrating them which leaves this EP sounding disjointed and at odds with itself.
Disappointingly, the original 'Secousse' track stands well on its own, as demonstrated by the prestigious list of DJs that supported the original single release. In contrast, the EP appears forced and incongruous, uncomfortable in its own skin.
Rating: 2/5