John Burgess 

Headman, ON

(Gomma)
  
  

ON

Four years ago, the hipsters of New York were mining the angular funk sounds of the post-punk era. The Rapture were the poster boys followed, in swift succession, by LCD Soundsystem, Radio 4 and !!!. Fluorescent green and pink were the new black, and singers studied Mark E Smith and worked on their yelping. The movement wasn't exclusive to Gothamites. In 2001, Berlin-based Swiss producer, Robi Insinna, released It Rough, as Headman, and was welcomed into the fold.

Now on his third album, Insinna has invited the Rapture's Matty Safer and Radio 4's Anthony Roman to guest on ON but doesn't offer them anything particularly fresh to sing across; the bass lines are still in thrall to Joy Division and the synths vintage and thin. Despite the feeling of stasis, there is still much to recommend: Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax has a ball on the Chicago house of Roh, and Moisture is an entertaining sex romp. Let's just hope when the Rapture return this year they have learned some new tricks.

 

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