Delicacies

Audio Mixers: Jas Shaw; James Ford .
The tracks on Simian Mobile Disco's third album are all named after foods, but don't expect any sensual material. Delicacies is a hard-hitting nine-tracker of pounding club cuts, most of them over eight minutes long. Despite fans' yin-yang between tight pop songs and thrilling productions, the Simian duo has continually found ways to impress, and Delicacies is impressive indeed. You won't hear much semblance of a vocal throughout, but the roster of eccentric effects powering these productions does have something of the foodie to it, often sounding like a companion to Herbert's Plat du Jour (which consisted solely of food-sourced samples). Simian, however, are even more attuned to the dancefloor than Herbert, and the tracks here seldom let up. Like great dance producers from Kraftwerk to Kompakt, they know how to balance innovative sounds with simple, feet-tugging beats. Lacking the retro flair of 2007's Attack Decay Sustain Release or the parade of guest features on 2009's Temporary Pleasure, Delicacies is still a delicious treat for dance fans -- including the head-nodding "Aspic" and the glazed-eye minimalist techno of "Thousand Year Egg." [FYI: Some formats included a bonus version of the album, DJ-mixed by the duo in the studio.] ~ John Bush