MSTRKRFT

There are two ways to look at the MSTRKRFT phenomenon. Either you are one of the mildly post-pubescent fans of North America’s Diet Justice who gets dropped off at the Henry Fonda by your parents, or you like music with some depth.

It's really as simple as that.

No disrespect meant to the people who get a casual enjoyment out of the Canadian duo’s music and just happen to also not receive a weekly allowance, get grounded or use texting shorthand in Christmas cards.

When “Another Killing on the Dancefloor” broke, it was at the beginning of the hipster electro resurgence. Justice was leading the charge and MSTRKRFT sounded somewhat fresh because the whole sound did. But with their latest album Fist of God, throwing a few distorted loops together, adding a monotonous vocal, and calling it a song just doesn’t get the juices flowing when there are now hundreds of other acts doing this sound with more thought and artistic merit (see A-Trak, Boys Noize, or Crookers for starters).

There is something decidedly coked-out about Fist of God. Not the 9 pm, life-of-the-party, immaculate conversationalist coked-out. This is the 11 a.m., ugly as all hell, talking to yourself about your own creative genius with a xylophone while sitting in a stranger’s bathtub coked-out. The track “Bounce” epitomizes this vibe (appropriately, it follows “1,000 Cigarettes”). “All I do is party” goes the refrain. Sounds like that mantra got in the way of pushing any sort of creative boundaries on this album. It’s damn near impossible to tell apart “It Ain’t Love,” “Fist of God” and "So Deep" from the first four bars, much less the first 16 (only a slight exaggeration).

MSTRCRP? Almost. It’s not quite drivel, but Fist of God hovers dangerously low above that moniker. Here’s a more accurate description: If the new wave of electro is the post-rock punk, then MSTRKRFT is the scene’s Smash Mouth; slightly late and contrived as hell. But for some reason, people seem to like it, and at the end of the day, that either means a lot of people have horrendous taste in music, or this is just another asshole reviewer talking.

—Chris Nelson
03.19.09

The difference in the basic sound of MSTRKRFT's first album, Looks, and the follow-up, Fist of God, isn't huge. Both are built around buzzing old-school synths, thunderous drums, and jumpy, floor-filling disco and robo-funk. The main change is that the vocodered vocals than dominated Looks have been replaced by a parade of collaborators who include Ghostface Killah, E-40, Freeway, John Legend, N.O.R.E., and Jahmal of Toronto band the Carps. "It Ain't Love," which matches a storming rhythm track with a fiery vocal from Lil' Mo, is the record's highlight. The rest is filled with good-time dance music that won't inspire repeated listens but might sound good over speakers in a nightclub. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi