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He may have been in the music making game for ten years now but Mr Oizo (also known as Quentin Dupieux) is still best known for that nodding puppet in the Levi's ad.
Oizo's oddball soundtrack for flogging denim will always be remembered for being one of the most unusual UK number ones but, a decade on from Flat Beat, has he managed to shake off the ghost of Flat Eric and create an album that will once again place him at the top of the techno tree?
His third album proper flies through its 17 tracks in just over 40 minutes, which makes it all the more incredible that it reportedly took just six weeks to create. Overall that helps maintain interest and proves that Oizo's crazed mind is pumping out ideas by the dozen but sometimes you wish he would stick with an idea for a few more minutes and elaborate and build upon it. It does leave you craving more though, which is surely preferable to a meandering eight-minute mix that outstays its welcome.
"Some are good, some are bad, some are just OK," goes introductory track Hun, and the album certainly is a mixed bag of sounds. It's all rather wonky throughout, from the rave stabs and flutes of Pourriture 2 and Bruce Willis Is Dead, which get an old school shiver going up the spine, to the scatterbrained disco of Z and Cut Dick, to the funk-led, summery stutter of Jo. Each track grabs your attention then quickly makes way for the next one. Overall it works, aside from one or two weaker moments like Two Takes It, a brash disco cover of Rob Base classic It Takes Two.
The nagging electro buzz of Postif comes closest to being the album's dancefloor anthem - a track that Dupieux apparently hates and was only saved by his girlfriend who prevented him from binning the idea altogether. Other highlights include the mangled rave stomp that is Gay Dentists and the tempo-shifting organ wigout of Blind Concerto.
With cover imagery showing old friend Flat Eric facing a razor blade and a video featuring the furry muppet being hacked up, you get the feeling Mr Oizo would rather lay him to rest for good. That is until the title track comes on with the announcement, "This audio was recorded by Flat Eric," and some obscure fuzzy analogue noises almost form into a track before 'Eric' is sent back to the closet.
So is it good, bad or merely OK overall? In reality, some tracks are outstanding, some are good and the rest are still of a high enough standard to make Lambs Anger a breakneck collection that deviates enough from any tired dance blueprints to make it an eccentric yet resounding success.
Dupieux was making loud, twisted, quirky techno long before the likes of Justice and Simian Mobile Disco even considered bending their waveforms at raucous right angles and Lambs Anger proves that he can still show the young pretenders a thing or two. This is a hyperactive but genuinely exciting listen.
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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
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