Discovery
LP
XL Recordings/Playground

Discovery are Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles and Rostam Batmanglij from last years big hype; Vampire Weekend. They started this collaboration already in 2005, but haven't released an album until now. The debut album they simply have called LP, so you are sure to get the retro-feeling straight.

LP is a coupling of the last decade's electronic dance music, from both sides of the Atlantic, and modern R&B. And the offspring could be named plastified soul. With slightly more emphasise on the plastic than the soul, which they somehow have lost in the process.

The tunes are all chopped-up and synth-based, with handclaps to keep the rhythm instead of snare drums. To top the already pretty roboticized sound, is of course the use of the famous Auto-Tune voice processor. And I have to say that there aren't many besides Kanye West who can pull off the use of it with grace. Discovery is unfortunately not that graceful, but still they kind-of make it work. Or at least almost so...

Miles and Batmanglij are doing the vocals on half the songs each, with a little help from Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koening on "Carby" and Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) on "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend". The latter actually - sounding not so very different from Dirty Projectors either- is the most delightful, fun and catchy tune on the album. And I also have to mention the pretty cool, Daft Punk-like Jackson 5 cover; "I Want You Back", as standing out on this over all cool album.

Alas, that is sadly the thing. LP is such an über-cool album, that it kind of gets lost in it's own coolness.

Copyright © 2009 Aslaug O Klausen