Do You Party?

Album review

Glitched-up, busted, bootylicious house from Matmos' Drew Daniel, rife with incredibly pleasurable rhythms and ensnaring hooks galore, the Soft Pink Truth's Do You Party? is a stunner -- it hurls its blinding array of transient sounds and clipped samples with such velocity that no one could possibly have a handle on it after less than a dozen listens. Eight of these 11 tracks are reprised from a pair of 12" releases on Herbert's Soundslike label that were issued in 2001 and 2002, and it's those tracks that provide the bulk of the album's highlights. To get some idea of Daniel's scope, consider the fact that one track name-drops composer Erik Satie, that one is unironically titled "Big Booty Bitches," and that another is a Vanity 6 cover. However, the heart of this record is definitely in the electric end of '80s R&B. Played at a low volume, "Make Up" sounds quite faithful to the original, with a quivering bassline and an overall effect that's pure Minne-funk, but turning up the knob reveals a smattering of cartoonish effects, unidentifiable noises that skitter and careen, and a quasi-duet between Blevin Blectum and Daniel's stitched-together vocal samples. The foundation of "Gender Studies"' nervous hop is laid by a squelching bass that repeatedly gives way to a stomping house rhythm. These factors make the track inviting enough, but the endless succession of vocal snips -- "Girl!," "Young ladies!," "Girruhl!," "You ladies kill me," "Ghhhhrrrl," "All the ladies across the globe!" -- add another dimension and confound the sample-hound in all of us. "Soft Pink Missy" pushes the samples into the background until they're welded to the rhythmic fabric; with a less-than-intense listen, Daniel seems to be doing more with less, but closer attention reveals all sorts of nuances beneath the surface. Brilliant from front to back, Do You Party? envisions a place where castles are made of ice cream -- a fantasy land where everyone rides around in little red corvettes and blue limousines.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo