MIIKE SNOW (2009)

For me, it's impossible to separate Miike Snow the band from Hockey and The Whitest Boy Alive.  I personally discovered all three acts at Coachella 2010, and while each offers a distinctly different sound, all three offer a spin on polite, white funk-pop that's perfect background fodder for parties and other social gatherings.  And while I'd say Miike Snow's contemporary, fairly conventional electro-pop vibe is the most generic of the three, they're also the best act on record...much more consistent than the others, delivering stronger songs and hooks and displaying a willingness to get lyrically dangerous the other two acts lack.

Initially formed in 2007 as a performance outlet for Swedish uber-dance producers Chris Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg (as Bloodshy and Avant they've worked with some of recent time's biggest dance floor divas, including Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and Brittney Spears), and New York-based singer/producer Andrew Wyatt, the self-titled Miike Snow is the band's proper full length debut.

Taking a trick out of the Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer playbook, the music never falters towards anything other than the bright, hook-ridden and smiley, but the lyrics can get quite dark.  Thoughts of "attending one's own burial",  losing self-control, and other murky matters of the soul abound, and for the most part, the music/lyric disconnect works, leading to what's all in all a very consistent effort, solid and listenable throughout.

The album also has moments of  invention...I particularly like Silvia, a long, extended groove that threatens to become annoying with it's relentless, goofy manipulation of the chorus vocals, but instead grows more interesting the longer the technique goes on. 

But in the end, it's the strong hooks that are going to bring people to this album.  Lead singles Animal and Burial (both of which were originally released before the album) are obvious crowd-pleasers, and later cut Cult Logic is even better.

So overall, nothing too new here, but if you're looking for an solid, catchy, electro-pop fix, you could do far worse than Miike Snow.

Status: Solid Recommend.

Cherry Pickers Best Bets: Animal, Silvia, Sans Soleil, Cult Logic.

Here's the official video for lead single Animal.

Component Breakdown:

1. Animal - 8

2. Burial - 8

3 Silvia - 8

4. Song For No One - 7

5. Black and Blue - 6

6. San Soleil - 8

7. A Horse In Not A Home - 6

8. Cult Logic - 8

9. Plastic Jungle - 7

10. In Search Of - 7

11. Faker - 7

Intangibles - Average

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What did you think of Miike Snow? Please feel free to add your thoughts.