6.) Duke Pandemonium- Marmaduke Duke
Best Song: Rubber Lover
This is a record that belongs somewhere between Talking Heads, DEVO, and The Art of Noise. Meaning it is really quirky dance rock with creative use loops and samples. This is pretty obvious from the opening track “Heartburn” which invites you to dance to its primitive drum machine but makes you question if you should. Of course the next track is called “Everybody Dance” and it sure makes the choice for you, which is to dance only to feel awkward when the danceable part goes away and then comes back.
Everything here has something interesting going for it. Whether it be the weird transitions that feel like they shouldn’t work but yet they do, or the fact that this seems to be all about having fun with the disguise of being super serious; you will never be bored listening to this album. I am particular found of the controlled chaos of “Demon” as it transitions from noise to quasi-funk which then starts to add jangling guitars and cow bell until the funk beat is dropped as it becomes a full blown Brit-pop number. Before once more changing to an avant-garde noise piece and then to a space rave songs and then to a heavenly dream/space pop song for a gorgeous coda.
With out stopping “Demon” transitions into another highlight the hilarious “Erotic Robotic” with the line “erotic robotic/despite the accent we’re Scottish”. The complete Highlight though are the closing two songs. “Rubber Lover” is a favorite of mine. It samples Billy Joel’s “Sleeping with the Television On” which is an oft overlooked gem with a great hook and Marmaduke Duke does not let the source song down. The song then seamlessly flows into “Skin the Mofo” which is a song that needs to be heard to understand its charm.
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