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Goldfrapp Leaves Us Cold (And Lost In The Rock-Critic Woods)


Goldfrapp, four years ago you could do no wrong with your Germanic techno dolled up for Top Of The Pops, the eeriness of your (black) cherry tinted synths and glam band rhythms making for a sour brand of diva pop sourced in fairy tales, fashion mags, and all sorts of eccentric Englishness. Your new single “A&E,” on the other hand, is ass, though in fairness it’s competently executed adult alternative ass.

And yes, the video is cute, especially if you thought the singing! dancing! ultra-tweeness of the clip for Feist’s “1-2-3-4″ needed a cameo by Swamp Thing, but the song, which Blender (favorably!) compared to interstitial music from Gray’s Anatomy, is gummy VH1-ery at best, and because there’s no justice in a YouTube world, that cuteness will probably make it a moderate viral American hit, meaning we’ll get more of Alison Goldfrapp playing the mature Colbie Caillat, instead of Alison Goldfrapp as the woman who’d recast Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical” as an electro track sleazy enough to put the red back into your embarassable parts.

Goldfrapp – “A&E” [Daily Motion]

 
By jharv at 4:45 AM on Tue Jan 8 2008
Posted to:
  • angshu

    I reckon the rest of the album's a good deal better than this particular slice of boredom. Pastoral and expansive, things which I normally think of as bad words.


    I suppose I like Alison and her tubby songwriting mate well enough, but there's *always something lacking about those records. Even the ambitious and imaginative Felt Mountain falls a bit short of dark chocolate perfection.


    Still, don't judge it by the single. It's not like you need to ***buy things to listen to 'em these days.


    Mind, I found the Feist album bland to the point that I can't find a single thing to say about it one way or another, so what do I know?

  • cassidy2099

    @SPAZANDMOJO

    Alison is a wonder, on the old records. We already have Feist and St. Vincent, no need to follow trends. Make your own. But that's what she has done. Now we have another record to fall asleep to.

  • spazandmojo

    i think it is kind of hilarious that goldfrapp will get a serious
    rodding over for the 'vibe' of this record, yet some of the same people
    will heap praise upon the likes of feist, st. vincent, etc. hmmm...
    double standards anyone? i think alison is a wonder... if you are
    missing it, how unfortunate.

  • lucasg

    oh my goodness was that ever boring. made it about to the half. i wanted to continue because i enjoyed the dancing leaf men, but failed.

  • Spiny Norman

    Well, who paved over Felt Mountain and put up the Baby Gap? I'm guessing this new album won't have anything approaching "Twist" on it...

  • jetblackturd

    She knows what she's doing. These are the moves of a venial career artist. Kylie's Two Hearts, Battles' Schaffel references, she did it all on the last record. No one really gave a shit. Her age lingers mysteriously around 40 - isn't she allowed a repertoire as broad as Bjork's? We can trust her with it. She'll get a bigger audience and then the record after this will be some 'I am sitting in a room' craziness.

  • dreamsneverend

    Man you guys are rough critics.. I don't think it's a bad song, better than rehashing the same thing over and over again and I'll withold judgement until I've had the new album for about a month after it's release.

  • Nunya B

    This is the only place I've seen complaints about the Goldfrapp single- to me, it sounds great, like Felt Mountain but with a heart (the album sounds similarly summery and Wicker Man-esque). After every band in the world bit Black Cherry and Supernature, I can't imagine Goldfrapp would've received praise for offering up a retread of their old sound.


    I love it - I think it's a lot better than you all are giving it credit for.

  • Covebum

    @armchairdj: then fill their albums with gorgeous midtempo electronic ballads.


    It sounds like they grabbed one of those ballads, stripped it of its gorgeous iciness, then clicked on "Annoying Contemplative Guitar Loop" in Garage Band.

  • KinetiQ

    Goldfrapp are the new Berlin, and they're making the same mistakes! My breath was taken away, sure enough, but mostly by the noxious odors coming from this compost heap of a single.

  • Chris Molanphy

    It's basically the post-millennial "As I Lay Me Down."

  • brasstax

    Yeah, I am not at all enthused about this record. Especially since I just listened to Black Cherry a couple times last week for the first time in a while. It only amplified the contrasts.

  • armchairdj

    Interesting. They usually release some inocuous uptempo dance singles (Train / Oooh La La) and then fill their albums with gorgeous midtempo electronic ballads. Here, it's a ballad that gets the bland-lead-single treatment. I'm withholding judgement till the album's out.

  • Dick Laurent is dead.

    ...how disappointing.

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