Spod comes out firing, sounding remarkably like Beck, both in the synth-disco production and the sound of his voice, on ‘Dangerzone’. Following this with ‘2 Tite’, complete with the Prince impersonation just on the lyric reference, and it’s a strong opening. Superfrenz, the new album, is musically enjoyable, in the pastiche kind of way you’ve come to expect from Spod. There’s great diversity while maintaining an electro-trash party aesthetic. And there’s some pretty remarkable pop songs hanging around as well – ‘Dead’ being the pick of the bunch with it’s “Everybody loves you just because you’re dead” chorus hook wonderfully undermining the upbeat mood of the accompaniment.
I was expecting affectation because, well hey, this is Spod, and I was expecting to be annoyed by it as well. But for the first half of the album it actually gets by without me thinking too many negative thoughts about the ludicrously over the top americanisation of the vocals, especially since the music is good. But come ‘Cats’ and the chink in Spod’s armour begins to become apparent. It’s basically a musical joke built around a synth sound and it’s cute, but kind of undermines the good work that’s proceeded it. Next is ‘Time Maggots Eating The Flesh Of Destiny’. It’s a distorted mess of overdriven drum machine and synth – actually quite good. But the lyrics are completely superfluous and cliche-ridden, with it’s hard core party, completely culturally irrelevant basketball metaphors and talk of ‘boulevards’, completely undermine what could have been a pretty cool lo-fi breaks track. Worst of all, though, is ‘Norx’. Does Spod’s tongue stuck in his cheek actually make this any better than ‘My Humps’, with a whole extra misogynist layer thrown on as well?
So I have some major reservations but, realistically, I was probably expecting those before I even heard the album. I was actually surprised by the quality of the things I did like. I’m also a Regurgitator fan – Spod has famously collaborated with Quan Yeomans and that aesthetic has very much rubbed off. There are some remarkably strong songs on Superfrenz. But these show up the foul-mouthed, cliched ‘satire’ bits as being a bit shallow and lazy.
Adrian Elmer
