Published on Feb 23, 2007
Dance music was fun once upon a time, which was a long long time ago when the fashion was bad and the silliness in the music was more entertaining than embarrassing. But the refinement of this genre over the years and its fusion with rock music has made it ever so serious and even as gloomy and pondering as metal music.
Contemporary dance music does not know what it feels like to let its hair down, doff those black clothes, and open up the window shade on a bright and sunny day. Maybe it is about time.
The self-titled debut record by Australian group Glovebox takes dance music — or at least its attitude — back in time at least 20 years but still incorporates the sophistry of modern electronic music, creating a vibrantly original sound. This is a record that takes no time to get hooked on and is such that one would fall in love with it at the very first listen, with the tunes cantankerously stuck in the head for a good number of days.
Glovebox is like the B52’s, a band that lies almost in the same domain of creativity in that beneath their merry-making, there is music that is creative and even a bit experimental. However, Glovebox pushes the edge farther than the B52’s and has even more diversity and complexity, incorporating a bank of influences and styles from electronica, plain old techno, funk, 70s disco and rock, and using them with such great level of comfort and ease that the band really makes their own sound.
Among the album standouts is the suave “Girl I Know” that boasts of pop elegance and style in a way that’s smooth and classy. Another admirable cut, the ensuing “$10 Whore,” is peppy, trashy, and very electronica. “Superstar” (completely different from the singles version) and “Warmin’ Up” are awesome campy modern-day interpretations of traditional disco, whereas “Serendipity” is funk glorified, but equally campy, sassy and mercilessly danceable.
If it is good time and gambol that one is expecting, then this record has plenty to offer. However, apart from its light-heartedness, this album has songs built on great tunes, great musicianship, and best of all some very good production work. Glovebox knows how to party but also knows well enough not to get too drunk and lose its bearings.
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