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Here, the sinfully motivating stew results in a record that goes on and on in its repetitive jive, sucking the listener into the blissfully happy world of Hindi-rock.
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With a heavier emphasis on funky bottom end and infectious loops, it could be said that Disco is a much more dancefloor-oriented record, and, to that end, it may very well be. However, resting atop these funky beats is some refreshingly insightful lyricism.
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An album of impossibly adorable disco - Star Wars "ping p-p-p-ping ping" bits, cheesy synths, George Clinton (!...hmm) workouts... all delivered in a slightly unsettlingly ersatz kitschness, half-hinted ironies, indietastic samples, hip-hop phrasings and The Asian Influence seductive throughout.
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Their sound is steeped in rare grooves, enhanced with hip-hop electronics and designed for lighthearted dancing. If the pair occasionally turn their rhythms on autopilot and rely on algorithm, you can't really hold it against 'em.
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Unlike the Bollywood rock house sound of Cornershop, Clinton shimmies with science, canned beats and funk cornerstones, creating a technology-savvy dance floor pitch. It's so full of disco it could make a glitter ball blush.... Instead of inventive, the album sounds slightly recycled.
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Pretty self-indulgent and insular, sounding at times like it was made for its creators' pleasure and little else.
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The unabashedly crude results suggest a lackadaisical slant on the Beastie Boys' garage-funk jams.
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A sultry dance album crammed with excellent tunes.
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Neither as sonically striking or politically conscious as Cornershop's well-received 1997 release, When I Was Born for the Seventh Time, Disco and the Halfway to Discontent is definitely the type of album a band can make when success provides an opportunity to experiment.
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It doesn't always work, and even when it does, there's no getting around the unshakable sense that Clinton is a side project above all else, with none of the transcendent moments found on Cornershop's albums.
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Though it's starkly rhythmic where Cornershop songs like "Brimful of Asha" are lush and trippy, Singh's appealing vocals and the duo's accessible songwriting provide the link between their two projects.... however, too many of these good ideas drag on for too long without progressing.
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Wildly uneven -
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Most everything you'd expect from Cornershop pops up somewhere on Disco and the Halfway to Discontent. You get your guitars, sitars, and Singh's tasty subcontinental breakfast of a voice. But you also get slapped with a dosage of bad opium.... For the majority of its duration, Disco merely simmers when it should be sizzling.
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While sometimes determinedly slight, these cunning community-minded grooves - People Power In The Disco Hour, in particular - do gradually insinuate their way into the affections.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 4 out of 5
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Mixed: 1 out of 5
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Negative: 0 out of 5
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nairnMay 6, 2005freaky feelgood