| Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat |
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| Music Disc Reviews Audio CD | ||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Dan MacIntosh | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 05 August 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||
Junior Senior is an unlikely musical pairing (one is straight, the other gay), as well as a particularly odd-looking duo (one is cute, the other plump), with a paradoxically retro approach to making music. One hears everything from Motown to old school rap to The B-52s running through this left-of-center debut. And one likes what one hears. The album opens with “Go Junior, Go Senior,” which is a call and response dance track. It features just-the-basics backing, and a sneaky guitar riff. It also has a few hilariously off-the-cuff lyrics such as, “He is the son of Frankenstein/ He is a fan of JJ Fad.” This music may be just for fun, but it’s fun in an invitingly warm and kooky sort of way. “Move Your Feet” is by far this album’s brightest moment. It has a big disco beat, along with a jangle-y guitar counter melody. It’s the song -- by the way -- that also includes the album’s title line of “D-D-Don’t Don’t Stop The Beat.” Listen closely, and you’ll hear another line that states, “Everybody move your feet and feel united.” Could this actually be a semi-political dance song? Who knows? There are many more fun treats – probably too many to name -- along the way. “Rhythm Bandits,” for example, is built upon ‘60s beach beat soul and B-52’s-ish backing girl vocals, while “Boy Meets Girl,” one of the disc’s slower offerings, relatively speaking, showcases a Motown drum sound, along with a psychedelic guitar thing running through it. “C’mon” is a new wave guitar party song, which is driven by a beat similar to The Go-Go’s “We’ve Got The Beat.” The album has one of those annoying parental advisory explicit content stickers, yet guardians should not be too alarmed by it. Granted, “Chicks With Dicks” is a little too blunt, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what “Shake Your Coconuts” is all about. But for the most part, this is an album of innocent dance party fun. Is this work by Junior Senior derivative? Yep. Is it childishly simple? Yep, again. But is it nonstop, guilty-pleasure dance fun? Absolutely. Put this one on at your next party, and you w-w-won’t ever want to stop its beat. Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.        |
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