My Computer, Vulnerabilia (13 Amp) 9+
Despite the unexceptional name, My Computer is the latest victory in the campaign to humanize electronica. As artists like Daft Punk, know, it's a difficult thing to achieve and avoid the blahs of conventional songwriting. It helps if you're a duo from the currently chic working class industrial town of Manchester, with physics geek Dave Luke programming beats that are original yet sound familiar. Then there's that voice. Lazy sods will compare Andy Chesters's (former One Lady Owner) uncommonly high quaver to Jeff Buckley, but more astute ears might also hear Feargal Sharkey, Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, and Tahiti 80's Xavier Boyer. From squirming between the sheets ("Fill My Cup") to dodging trouble in the streets ("Majic Flat," "No More Dealing"), My Computer cover similar lyrical territory to Mike Skinner/The Streets' dole life and rave nostalgia. Sonically eclectic, the songs continue to astound after repeated listening. The nine-plus minute opener "All I Ever Really Wanted Was A Good Time" delivers by morphing from a vocoderized voice to bubbly synth pop, acoustic strumming, a furious junglist breakdown, bluesy "Sister Ray" organ and back to the voice -- a journey all the more remarkable for its cohesiveness. One ballsy epic down, and the album only gets better. "More To Life" enters with some baroque classical piano before kicking in with breakbeats laced with delicately plucked flamenco guitar, and Chester's songbird voice dramatically enters clear and strong. "Rope" and "Vulnerabilia" are blissful synth pop tunes frosted with soulful melodies and bluesy arpeggios. The production is warped with a slight sheen of shimmering psychedelia, making the tunes more enduring. When "For Somebody Else" threaten to float away in bliss-out, it jars you back to reality with punishing industrial beats. "No More Dealing" plays like a religious hymnal, a 21st century junkie's prayer. "There Are Ways" is Vulnerabilia's gorgeous, melodic apex. The skittering "I Don't Care How You Treat Me" sounds like the masochistic answer to Super Furry Animals' sadistic "No Sympathy." The album ends perfectly with the over-the-top Disney cheeseball lullaby of "If You Dare." Exquisite.
