| CD Review - Lipstick Entourage - Stuck In A Vision EP |
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| CD EP |
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| Review by Dappy |
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This is a CD I should have reviewed far too long ago and one which has been in and out of my CD player many times over the last few months. The evocatively named Lipstick Entourage dropped this EP of slightly sordid electro-indie in the middle of last year and have been building up a name for themselves on the gig circuit since. Tightly-programmed drum-machine beats mix with 80s electro synths, funky bass and some beautifully understated guitar work, all topped by intelligent and occasionally brilliant lyrics.
The proceedings open with a throbbing dance-influenced beat and a fantastically dirty synth with lines such as “you are the drug for my money/if my fingers touch your body” setting the seedy tone for the rest of the EP.
“Club Scene Bop (our time is borrowed)” is one of the best examples of singer Fernandez’s poetic lyricism as he conjures up lines to describe the shady side of the indie-club scene; “your lips are red silhouettes/your hips are neon pirouettes”. In the verse a Wu-Tang Clan-influenced beat is coupled with another synth heavy on the grime to wonderful effect, though this is slightly spoiled by another that enters afterwards, sounding slightly too awkward and quasi-sega mega drive. Nearer the end, the track seems to outstay its welcome with the oddly stilted programming in the chorus preventing it from really taking off. However, saying all that, it’s probably my favourite track on the EP.
“Walk Outside”, whilst being one of the albums catchiest numbers, doesn’t quite manage to shake off similarities to Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc”, a fact compounded by El Negro’s rap. After the lyrical fireworks of the previous track lines such as “Just like I felt it back in ‘92/There was always something I had to do” and “So I took a walk outside/And I chill on this mountainside” seem disappointingly mundane, however, things soon improve with the redeeming “When your eyes collide with mine/I say something inane” and some fast-paced verbal acrobatics by the aforementioned El Negro.
“Television” provides some unexpected sonic thrills and the thought-provoking line: “does violence have its place on the battlefields of revolution?”, a good question when the stagnated, sedative qualities of television, presented here, are the other alternative.
Two of the stars of this EP for me are the lyrics and guitar playing. It would be so easy to leech off well-worn clichés on both counts, yet Fernandez manages to create some fantastic imagery and wordplay whilst guitarist Del Davison carves out lines that always support and enhance, never dominating, leaving plenty of much needed sonic room for the synth to add more texture to the tracks.
Perhaps one of the things the EP suffers is the similarity in tempo, when a change in speed would provide another welcome aspect to their sound. However, what they create is a refreshingly original change to a lot of the lazy, cliché-ridden indie being pedalled around at the moment, incorporating elements of hip-hop and dance with some solid songwriting.
A fantastically produced EP with sporadic flashes of greatness; if the Entourage can produce tracks as consistently good as the numerous highpoints on here then they may soon be features of the televisions and club-scene culture they dissect so well on this EP.
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This page was last updated Monday, 11 January 2010
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