After being widely maligned since its beheading, the 80s is now back.
2008 saw Neon Neon release their blinding album Stainless Style. It allowed us to revel in 80s power pop once again, with the added incentive that you could like it without shame because of its semi-ironic nature. If challenged you could shrug it off as a bit of a joke.
Now Goldfrapp demands that we take it a little more seriously. The front sleeve, where Allison is pictured firing a laser out of her hand against a sun setting over mountains and a road splitting the centre, would appear to say otherwise.
Nothing serious about that I hear you say again. Well actually, I think Rocket, the song and the cover as a whole, is daring us to engage with it, without laughing, accepting it for what it is: synth-powered, joyous, meaningless music employed to make the serotonin flow, and lobotomise the brain.
It is lightweight, but it has a valuable place – music does not have to be thoughtful to be seminal.
Take Rocket for what it is, leaving your humourless snobbery to one side, and you may love it, seriously but not seriously.
Dream Cars is much better though. High five!
Release Date 08/03/2010 (Mute Records)
I started out writing for the Manchester Evening News as a freelance journalist back in 2008. The idea that I would be given free access to music and gigs seemed somehow miraculous to me, and I proceeded to take full advantage of the situation. When the M.E.N. decided to constrict its coverage to only the very biggest bands, Simon Poole approached me with a plan to make sure that all the very talented musicians of this world that pass through and/or live in Manchester would not go unnoticed. As the New Releases editor here at Silent Radio Towers, it remains my proud duty to cast a critical eye over the music and reviews that come my way in a manner that is both supportive and fair. Above all, I strive to write as entertainingly possible. Favourite musicians include the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Mercury Rev, Os Mutantes, The Knife, Beach House etc etc. I'm a firm believer that all genres (except nu-metal) contain music of great quality...
