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Mylo - Destroy Rock And Roll (breastfed)
Dance music too often equates "cheerful" with "brainless". Or assumes that anything that's more than a new set of driving beats lacks credibility, is shallow or was written to make money off the alcopops and Ritzy crowd.It's a pity, because that's why house is going through a rough period. Right now there's more inspiration in the production of percussion than in the tracks themselves.
Which is why Mylo is going to be very big. A Scot whose bio claims he's spent three years holed up in Skye working on this debut album 'Destroy Rock and Roll', he's also a talented image maker. His label Breastfed, with its distinctive block-lettering covers, was one of the most recognisable labels after its first two big releases.
But then they were memorable tracks. 'Muscle Cars', the first, is an epic synth number without the bombast that "epic" usually entails. Then the 'Paris 400' EP followed, more funky but keeping 'Muscle Cars' low-key charm with tracks like 'Release The Pressure', included on DRaR with Muscle Cars.
Does the album add a lot of additional elements to the Mylo template? It keeps the summery feel influenced by California and soft rock (Toto and Steely Dan are listed as influences, and Kim Carnes makes an appearance through a sample of Betty Davis Eyes). If people are not listening to this in parks right now, they're not having as much fun as they could.
But it's not just nice basslines and big grins. There's a fantastic Freeform Five remix of 'Muscle Cars' included, adding a vocal and that group's usual goofy mix of additional production and overdubs. And there are slower wordless vocal tracks in the Royksopp vein.
So even if the first singles were for the dancefloor, the rest of the album spans a lot of different feels. It's a band album, effectively - a set of different moods created with the same instrumentation.
How you feel about that depends on whether you believe using the same sound twice in electronic music indicates a lack of originally, or a confidence that it is the melody and arrangement that makes a track. It's an album of lovely songs; put your feet up and enjoy.
Big Daddy G
Mylo's 'Destroy Rock and Roll is out now on Breastfed. Mylo appears in Tom's Top Tent at Eastnor 2004
Written: 2nd Jul, 04
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