Having kept relatively quiet for the past few years, riding out the electroclash fad that their long run of '90s electro records helped to inspire, Disko B finally sticks their heads out from the ground with this new act who craft the best in slightly retro electro dance funk as if the fashion casualty of electroclash never even happened. On their debut album,
Mystery Men channel forefathers
Depeche Mode and
Afrika Bambaataa, as well as elder disciples
I-f and
DJ Hell to create a full-length's worth of dancefloor action that keeps song structure in mind, but never caves to the pressure of pop. "Space Attack" echoes the sound of the Haag with vocodered alien proclamation like a lesser-known speech from the cosmic leader who sang "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass," while "It Feels Nice" follows the early-'90s sound of Detroit techno as it detoured into what would eventually be bastardized as trance. "Electromode" could qualify as one of the faster techno cutters on the Kompakt label and the a cappella opener, "Don't Look Back," could kick off a
Daft Punk concert. Not terribly creative, yet flawlessly executed,
Mystery Men brush off trends and stay the course from Italio-disco to electro and on into the future. ~ Joshua Glazer