What time is it? It's time to start picking out some sweet summer jamz. So far, I haven't been just real bowled over with the latest pack of tracks vying for position, but there is one group who is consistently impressing me with hook laden, chorus humming songs, and they don't even have a label. Yet.
Cof Cof have been quickly and surely establishing themselves at the top of my list of bands to watch, if I were so presumptuous as to make such a list, which I pray I never will be. Their lovable brand of Spanish, synthy dance pop is evolving like the aliens in that underrated David Duchovney movie (which one, right?). Their latest release is actually in the form of several new songs at once, compiled with a couple of their older tracks into a pretty damn solid full length debut album entitled
Who Said Party?. Leaning more on lead singer Ana Analogica's cute and off kilter voice, the new tracks (almost exclusively in English now) add up to big fun in the same thematic vein as their earlier releases, namely parties and drinking on the surface, thinly vialing analogies of relationships and other typical pop ilk. A lot of the solidity here is also lent by stellar production from instrumentalist and backup vocalist Alex Cuadrado, in which he borrows from everyone from
the Teenagers to
Michael Jackson with a healthy dose of 8-bit magic. Tracks like
Dirty Tricks, a guitar riffing psudo-techno romp, and the titular
Who Said Party? are instant classics daring you not to sing along; while
Caribbean Boy and
Forbidden Cocktail try to stretch the duo successfully, however slightly, stylistically.
The album's playfulness, charm, and infectious dancability helps to negate it's only drawback, which is it's lack of diversity. While every track is distinct, there is a noticeable similarity in some of the sounds, and the general pace of every tune is pretty much the same, with no 'slow number' or any time signature outside of four / fours that I can think of. This however, is all part and partial to making a great dance record, and is in line with other somewhat similar groups like the now (basically) defunct Bonde do Role, where you really aren't expecting any sort of arch or storied experience in lieu of shaking your drunken ass off.
One of the best parts about this record is the fact that it's straight up free at the moment through download. Great album art (by the immensely talented
Pi) and all, there's really no way to not use the link below and get yourself some quality muzak. So far as I've been informed there are no plans for a US tour of any kind, though if I could I'd fly them here myself out of sheer curiosity as to what their live show is like, but if you're lucky enough to live in their home town of Valencia, Spain, you can check them out on June 27th at Nasti Valencia. Sounds like a cool place.
My pick for Summer Jam? The track
Who Said Party?, which could quite possibly be the
Party Ends theme song as well. I didn't want to deny the band the traffic of our myriad readers, so the link below will take you to
Cof Cof's Myspace, then click the '
download who said party? here' link to pick up the album. Also, if you happen to speak / read Spanish (unlike myself), you can check out their blog
here.
