Don’t let anyone tell you that [a]Les Rythmes Digitales[/a] are the only ones who sound like something the cat dragged in from the early-’80s. You want ‘funny’ and ‘ironic’ disco shapes, ker-azee analogue burps and evidence of knowledge of at least three Parliament LPs? You do? Well go and buy the [a]Lo-Fidelity Allstars[/a]’ debut album. You want all that but [I]without [/I]the tunes? Hey, best check out [a]Sir Drew[/a] then.
The product of Stafford’s Andy Meecham, himself the brains behind erstwhile ’90s rave champions Bizarre Inc and, currently, excellent tough house terrorists Chicken Lips, Sir Drew does to disco what Channel 5 does to TV: dumbs it down, recycles the cheapest bits, covers the cracks with spray-on glitter and repackages it as something new or, please God, exciting.
All pond life is here on ‘She Woman Cat Type Thing’ – irritating samples of New York street talk, sub-Chic riffs, generic electro squiggles – while Meecham cut’n’pastes the parts together with soulless proficiency, rendering tracks like ‘Dumb Tart’ and ‘Disco Freak’ as scintillatingly thrilling as their names suggest. Fake nostalgia and wacky big beatery were never the happiest of bedfellows. [a]Sir Drew[/a], two years too late, merely confirms this.