Politically charged dance music may not appeal to everyone but, on her third album, Planningtorock serves it up anyway. All Love's Legal sounds like the soundtrack for an introduction to feminism seminar, with Jam Rostron (formerly Janine Rostron) leading the class in a rejection of gender binaries and misogyny. Her lyrics can be a bit too simplistic, as when she sings "It kind of feels that gender's just a lie" on Human Drama, or "Patriarchal life, get out of the way" on Patriarchy Over and Out. Subtlety isn't the goal here. Luckily, the shuddering, angular house beats behind her danceable songs balance out their rhetoric. It's hard to sit still listening to jittery track Misogyny Drop Dead, the horn-sampling Public Love or Beyond Binary Binds, which sounds like Simian Mobile Disco fronted by Antony Hegarty. Rostron's tuned-down voice shines over the dirgey Answerland and a collaboration with the Knife, Let's Talk About Gender Baby, making her achingly earnest message playful and accessible.
Planningtorock: All Love’s Legal – review
Planningtorock – aka Jam Rostron – balances earnest political rhetoric with playful, danceable tunes on her second album, writes Tshepo Mokoena