Passion Pit
Manners
French Kiss Records
This CD works immediately – you’ll think you’re trapped in an 8-bit Japanimation video with a soundtrack by Scissor Sisters. While Passion Pit’s first EP (Chunk of Change) eluded me (I reside in a quaint cave on a desert island in the South Pacific) this power pop group with an electronic edge captivated me. The music is relentlessly upbeat and I suspect social conscience may be lurking under the layered scratches that fill in the gaps between mid-‘90s Pet Shop Boys and whispers of ’80s-synth pop. No retro band this, lead singer Michael Angelakos has pulled off that musical miracle – he sounds different than everyone else, but not so different you have to sit down with a copy of Rolling Stone and figure out if it’s really good, or just really different.
Like any good 21st century digital boy, you can get this jittery collection of love songs and post-hormonal angst ridden musing from all the usual downloadable sources, but take the extra few days to order a pleasantly out-of-date Compact Disc or pop for a positively paleontological vinyl platter. I was hoping for an Edison Wax Cylinder edition, but I guess I’ll have to steampunk that on my own when the next copy of Make magazine hits the stands. Passion Pit might be worth the effort; it’s pure infectious musical goodness.
Passion Pit: http://www.myspace.com/PassionPitsJams • French Kiss Records: http://frenchkissrecords.com
