Another EP with one killer track, two so-so ones, and a polite misfire. That’s still pretty darned good as far as I’m concerned. The best track is Birthday with an eighties groove featuring a perfect contrast between the robotic drums of the verse and pulsing guitars of the chorus. It’s hook city, from the “tick tock” intro to the vocal melody, reminding me of Coldplay, Wilson Phillips, Dido simultaneously.
The Good
As an EP with only five tracks there is little filler. Polite Dance Song benefits immensely from live drums and a sarcastic, near parody vibe, and manages to squeeze in a chromatic piano run similar to Paul McCartney’s Maybe, I’m Amazed. Man combines funk with baroque instruments effortlessly with a killer chorus.
I’m a long admitted sucker for spacey-pop and women’s vocals, and my new personal sugar high is The Bird And The Bee. I was embarrassingly pulled in from left field via a Mac-themed viral video set to the aggressively hooky electro-pop masterpiece Again & Again, and it was soon game over after some short sample listens through iTunes.
Elvis Costello’s latest disc is hasty and inconsiderate. The song titles and album art look tossed off, the twelve tracks were recorded in a week and mixed a week later. The distribution method was haphazard — it was released on vinyl first and then as a download, and CD last. The album’s title refers to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen noodles, hinting at a quick snack as opposed to a nourishing, slow-cooked meal.
As a Mac user I’m overly familiar with the eye candy depicted in this video, but not as much with the musical artist, Bird and the Bee. The song “Again and Again” is decent as well, if a bit repetitive. The video was made by Dennis Liu.