There's something about Innerpartysystem that radiates a knowingness, their dancefloor-friendly songs littered with clever-clever little details and incidentals. On the one hand, such attention to detail is admirable. On the other, so much of it's all been done before, with various tweaks and effects and EQ adjustments being common features in the lexicon of dance music production. So for the most part, the six tracks on this mini-album combine subtly dark electro and breezy pop with danceable grooves.
For the most part then, it's fairly standard and fairly irritating, with robotic vocals, scratching sounds, stutters and gating scattered liberally throughout. There are some high points, though, with 'American Trash' being the obvious standout here. It comes on like a diluted Nine Inch Nails, a grating, oscillating bass driven by a mechanised beat. Patrick Nissley sneers expletives and the whole thing has a very 90s EBM kind of vibe. It's let down by a very weak stadium pop middle eight, but then it's in keeping with the accessible slant of the EP as a whole. 'Out of Touch' has a touch of Depeche Mode about it, but without being as dark at the corners, thanks to a lighter, poppier dance feel courtesy of expansive synths and a disco-friendly beat through the chorus.
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Things do pick up again for the last track, the slower, moodier 'Squid', which is subtle and expansive, but still has a light pop feel to it. Its dreamy qualities are gently uplifting, but the two decent tracks - which differ most from the others - aren't adequate compensation for what is, ultimately, a rather smug dance record with which I for one am certainly not content.
Innerpartysystem on MySpace
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