People who can't rap shouldn't and programmers with some degree of ability shouldn't bother enlisting those tired vocalists when they aren't needed. Point in case: Todd Drootin of Books on Tape makes some mildly entertaining, low-end electronic fuzz dependent on bass and drums and then decides that it must be too boring to stand alone.
Melissa Dungan enters this scene and proceeds to rap like a 12 year old girl obsessed with coming off as "old school." It's a truly sad scenario of adolescent proportions until Dungan stops rapping and starts singing some reasonably tolerable lines variously concerned with such topics as Donnie Darko and shoes of different colors. The EP is five tracks plus five remixes; one remix is provided for each original track. The Master Cylinder remix of "Chartreuse" is actually quite good and is worth a few listens or perhaps it could serve as a nice addition to a mix CD for long, relaxing drives. While there are plenty of groove-filled rhythms pulsing through most of these tracks, the vocals always end up cutting through them like a chainsaw to bobbing rolls of fat. It's messy and irritating because those rolls of fat are mesmerizing and fun to watch while they last. Eventually the remixes stand out and above the original tracks, but only because the lyrics are buried deeper in the mix and because the remixes aren't trying hard to be surprising. They simply move along at their own pace and provide a continuous mood and steady rhythm. There's nothing but standard fare going on here; the price is pretty nice for a ten song EP, but it's depressing that only two or three of those ten songs are worth paying attention to.
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