Previously known as
Books on Tape, Todd Drootin was liked, mostly for being like
Kid 606 without being annoying like
Kid 606. On this new project, Drootin and partner Melissa Dungan (MQ Musik) are a pair of hip-hop/electro/goth-punk kids who aren't nearly as annoying as most of the bands doing this sort of thing. Dungan lacks the rapping skills of even amateurs like
Peaches and
Northern State, but she makes up with a playful cadence and inflection that veers from a Siouxsie Sioux art-punk growl on "Trapavoid" to a sultry chirp on the Master Cylinder remix of "Chartreuse or Consequences." On that same song, Drootin takes a break from his laptop theatrics to craft a pleasant pop palette drawn in the school of
Saint Etienne, but the rest of these ten songs and remixes (the line between which is blurred in every case but the names) follow a similar hopscotch from eight-bit analog buzz to clipped crunk beats, all of which he's shown ample skill with before. The best thing to come out of this pairing is a sense of limitation and control, as if having the watchful eye of the other has kept both these two from flailing off into overindulgent territory. Except of course for the ridiculous album title, which might be the one dare these kids couldn't resist. ~ Joshua Glazer