electro

Not to just be polemic, but isn't it time that people stop straddling the fence and take a side between the forces of rock and dance? Sure, this decade has seen those walls come tumbling down, and "disco sucks" pronouncements have been replaced by iPods that mix and match the best of both worlds, and performers that do the same (see rockers the Faint go electro while techno legend Two Lone Swordsmen go punk). But sometime you get the feeling that all this cross-pollinization is simply a means of covering all the bases and improving the market share. That's certainly the impression left by Seattle singer-producer Nathan Scott. Although willfully titled Electro, the second disc by this primarily solo artists does little more than grab some pre-made electro drum sounds to create the sort of amateurish bedroom rock that is the ultimate downfall of the Mac studio revolution. The most damning exhibit is the '80s guitar histrionics of "It's Not About Love." Rife with as much riffage as the Velvet Revolver album, the instrumental nature of this tune begs not for the dancefloor, but rather for a spot on an Eric Johnson cassette left in your parents' basement from middle school. No better is the cover of "Ticket to Ride" that finds Scott's lowly processed voice straining to hit the not-so-straining notes of the Beatles' original. Perhaps it is this difficulty that possessed Scott to simply give up and repeat the mantra "She ought to think twice/She ought to do right, by me." The only slightest reprise comes in Felix da Housecat's remix of the opening track, "Pompeii." But then again, Felix sells this sort of remix the way McDonalds sells Big Macs these days. Here's hoping that the 'Remix by Felix da Housecat' sticker does nothing to sell this disc to anyone past the eighth grade.