Junior Senior

The Danish pop duo Junior Senior scored a huge international hit in 2003 with the single "Move Your Feet" from their debut album, D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat, but due to complicated record label shenanigans, their 2005 follow-up record is only just now turning up as a domestic release in the U.S. Fortunately for the band, the album has aged exceptionally well. On Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, the group refines their relentlessly cheerful aesthetic with songs that amplify the most ecstatic elements of dance pop, hip-hop, and rock 'n roll to nearly absurd extremes.

While several cuts borrow liberally from classic disco and old school hip-hop, their sound is still unmistakably slick and modern, owing as much to Justin Timberlake and Kylie Minogue as any influences from the late '70s or early '80s. The album is extraordinarily twee in its wide-eyed glee and goofy inclusiveness (even notorious recluse Bigfoot gets called out to join Junior Senior's dancefloor), but the most brilliant moment comes when the duo dial down their preciousness for "Take Your Time," a collaboration with Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of the B-52's that blends the magic of Off the Wall-era Michael Jackson and the surreal party vibe of, well, the B-52's.

—Matthew Perpetua
08.10.07

Junior Senior's second album is a dour, measured affair that pits subdued instrumentation against introspective lyrics and restrained vocals. Now, you didn't believe that, did you? As with their debut, Hey Hey My My Yo Yo is a Technicolor blaze of maximalist glory packed with over-the-top vocals, nonsense lyrics, woozy performances and dancefloor ready summer jams. And handclaps, you can't forget those. Jeppe "Senior" Laursen's production leaves no room for subtly which is fine because Jesper "Junior" Mortensen's vocals have none. He's a classic shouter firmly rooted in the Fred Schneider tradition (which makes the Cindy Wilson/Kate Pierson sung "Take My Time" seem just right) and while the album relies as much on the guest vocals (from all three members of Le Tigre, Anna Køster and amazingly, Motown girl group the Velvelettes) as it does his, his exuberant sensibility fills the proceedings with unhinged joy. On the songs he doesn't lead, you can picture him shaking his stuff with a huge grin on his face as the tapes roll. The record is filled with songs that should be hits; "Can I Get, Get, Get" (with Le Tigre's J.D. on vocals) is a disco ball floor filler, "We R the Handclaps" is the Jackson 5 on helium, "I Like Music (W.O.S.B.") is wonderfully hooky, space age Northern soul. Really you could pick any song on the album for that list of highlights; the record is that strong. There are few bands on the scene in 2007 that are filled with such light-hearted love of music and life without even a slight trace of irony or fakery. Their heavenly mix of mix of giddy silliness, pop smarts and pop culture overload makes Hey Hey My My Yo Yo a fun-filled joyride from beginning to end. [The album's release was delayed in the U.S. for two years but fans who waited patiently were rewarded by the inclusion of a bonus disc of songs recorded in 2007. The seven tracks feature few guest musicians and no celebrity vocalists, and have a much harder, almost new wave feel to them. Despite the lack of glitzy trappings, they are uniformly excellent, hooky and fun songs that prove conclusively that the band doesn't need to indulge in kitsch-en sink productions to be great.] ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide