Mouse On Mars - Parastrophics (CD)

Believe it or not, this is in fact Mouse On Mars's tenth studio album!  These two certainly know how to churn 'em out, although it is in fact their first proper studio offering in six years!. They've released records on a slew of great labels over the years and now it's the turn of Monkeytown to drop one. The trademark ADD electro assault is still present and correct of course, but this time round things seem more focused than previous records I've heard from them. It's still dizzyingly busy, but the pulsating grooves and melodies are never too far from the foreground. It's a similar kind of calculated franticness that makes the new Lindstrom such an enjoyable listen. Head-scratching mutant electro-funk squelches and fat electric bass drum kicks while glitches and manipulated cut-and-paste samples swirl around to quite giddying effect. It's when they take things down a bit like on the pumping dancefloor stomp of 'They Know Your Name' that they're at their most effective here, in fact, with the swoops and bleeps and squelches relegated to a more peripheral role, before the sultry squelch funk drift of 'Syncropticians' that's more Four Tet than Venetian Snares, but even at their most laid back there's too much here to take in without repeated and intensive listening. Staggering attention to detail as always and quite possibly their most enjoyable record to date. Nice to see that these guys are still forging ahead and keeping things fresh.