The Lords Of The Mysterious - Partybox

Hear The Track Here

Although I've obviously taken notice of The Lords Of The Mysterious (LOM for short eh?) because they/he/she/it post reviews in the Critics Corner forum and I am bound to read them - after alll, got to keep up with the competition ;) I haven't, up until this point, heard any of their music either because they haven't been able to get onto the review list or just can't be arsed. Still, here we go. It isn't often that I get to go into the electronica: House genre and - I have to admit - a bit of a refreshing change. I could do with a rest from the constant boinging and banging, know what I mean? LOM are also the recipient of this month's Yeah But/No But... award because they put up one version of this and then changed their mind and substituted the version you see here. Therefore, as always, my curiosity about the first version increased... So it was a good job I downloaded both versions :D

See, keeping up with the competition.

The obvious change is that the track gained about six minutes! Could hardly believe the ol' ocular devices, I tell ya. Partybox weighs in at a hefty eight minutes plus but there's plenty going on so it won't seem that long - especially if you like the genre. And if you are partial - as this artist obviously is - to playing with your new toys. In this case, said new toy being some kind of voicebox thingie for vocalist Paul Lovelace to get his gob around. Of course, the most immediate reference - both musically and stylistically - is to the late, great Roger Troutman and the band he fronted, the mighty Zapp. Nice... See that's the first thing that slipped into my earholes and I guess it's novelty value outwieghed common sense for a while because it took a while for the shine to wear off.

However, wear off it did.

OK so I admittedly played the damn thing to death before that (I loved Zapp) but - to my ears - it could have lost a good couple of minutes and still ahve been no worse for it, and maybe that would cut down on the 'enough of the voicebox already' impulse you will no doubt acquire by the sixth or seventh listen. So, a bit specialised really, I think, to catch fire but there is certainly enough here to make it worthy of attention. More so if you like a) the genre b) Zapp or c) new toys played to death but even a casual listener may get sucked in with the vocal tricks. My real problem with this track came from the overuse of the voicebox, it would have been nice to hear some regular vocals happening too. There again, that's just me wanting my cake and eating it to. As it is, I think LOM have a neat idea here, all they have to do is to take care they don't flog it to death.

An interesting take on electronica. Recommended.