Glow sticks at the ready.
"Kingdom of Fear", the debut full length album from Glaswegians Shitdisco is basically a pop record but it isn't particularly radio friendly in the traditional sense; the tracks are more like club tunes, relying on trance-like repetitive riffs and a pretty heavy drum sound. At its best this record has some nice touches; in the nice fuzzy and angular guitars which give the whole thing some grit and edge, lo-fi production, chunky bass and the catchy shout-along choruses. Unfortunately, on the flip side it can be incredibly repetitive, at times the tracks are so similar, one will end and another will begin without you noticing, and often it can feel like you've got just a few tracks playing over and over on a loop; this gets frustrating too fast, and really tests your patience.
From the start it's obvious that this album will be one you either love or hate, opener 'I Know Kung Fu' sounds like The Rapture on speed; the vocals are like slogans shouted and squealed over cow bell and manic angular guitar. There's so much going on at such an intense speed it's either incredibly exciting or mind meltingly annoying. If you're a fan of 'OK' the bands new single it's a sure bet you'll like the rest of the album as it blends in really well, in fact, they could easily have released any track off "Kingdom of Fear" in it's place.
Hopefully this new rave fiasco will soon be dead in the water, but while it lasts, we have bands like Klaxons and Shitdisco mashing up new wave sounds with 80s beats and cheesy synth. While Klaxons manage to do it really well, in a quite subtle and interesting way, Shitdisco don't really manage to pull it off with the same finesse. Their sound seems to consist of cheesy keyboard, irritating squidgy noises, shouting, and "da da da da" backing vocals. Not exactly inspiring to listen to alone in your bedroom, but definitely a sound that will get pissed people up and dancing on a night out. In the end it all comes down to whether you like that electro thing and the shouty vocal style, if you don't this will be really hard to listen to.