There
are two tracks on Boy Azooga’s debut
– ‘Loner Boogie’ and ‘Face behind her Cigarette’ – that are absolutely
outstanding. They are two of my very favourite tracks of the year, and had the
whole of the record been of their standard, 1,
2, Kung Fu! would have been challenging at the top of this year’s list. As
it is, this is a record that dips in quality, but that’s partly because it
reaches such heights at times, and it must be said that it never dips that low.
There’s much fun to be had throughout, across a range of genres and moods. Disco-rock,
Daft Punk style electro-indie, some (mid-career
Blur) power-indie and chill-out
harmonising are all present and arranged in a way that feels like they’re part
of a coherent whole, rather than being a hodgepodge. Hard to pigeonhole (which
is always good), consistently fun and with flashes of absolute genius. It’s a
debut, so label under ‘significant potential’.
sample track: Face behind her Cigarette