In a dimension parallel to this one in which moneys drive cars, engineer feats of sparkling musical dissolution and bang on over and over with miniature cymbals, there exists a musical hierarchy in which New Order, Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, Lieutenant Pigeon, Paul McCartney, Hot Chip, XTC, Yo La Tengo and Spacemen 3 had been replaced by one 26 year old London resident with a debilitating compulsive-obsessive disorder and a fear of the sea. Mark Ronson doesn’t just sound like all of the above, he actually is them. By some quirk of nature the man with a melting pot of styles and some seriously oddball noise-making machines has undergone a metamorphosis similar in style to that which happens to the soft-tissue of a Jurassic magic mushroom whose gooey genetic design is replaced incrementally by other deposits – deposits that in the context of Robson’s debut at least – consist of large parts of fuzzy, quirky organ noises, distorted multi-guitars, farfisa, flutes, alarm clocks, recorders, samplers, harmonicas, fizzy percussion noises, elastic basslines, slide guitars, intergalactic poly rhythms, spooky voices, buzzes, squeaks, piano keys, all spinning along an asteroid belt of kooky British charm and a rubbery lyrical style akin to Shaun Ryder, Ray Davies, John Shuttleworth and Pynchon’s Rainbow. Covering everything from powetools, the yellow pages index, the sound of mass confusion, dust, trips to the shops, pulling out your best friend’s hair and not thinking about the rising of the sun, Robson’s garden of unworldly delights triumphs in saying nothing, but saying it with such rare, unqualified beauty and such reckless adventure that the hairs on the back of your neck will positively stand up and start break-dancing.
Stand out tracks include the scuzzy, acid hurdy gurdy of ‘Confusion’, the fun-sized ‘Fist-Sized Lover’, ‘Wiseguys’, ‘I Don’t Ever Wanna Be’ and the gorgeous, giddy breaks and beats of the healing ‘Americana’.
Customers who bought his also bought albums by Bent, Jim Noir, Benjy Ferree, Beck, Adem and Four Tet. Make of that what you will.