UltraSex

Picking up where DMX Krew left off, Mount Sims' debut record paints a picture of the new wave renaissance with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Appearing to be a mildly fetish-oriented trio consisting of two girls and a pompous male lead singer, the band is actually the studio creation of sonic explorer Matt Sims. Does it work? The answer is a resounding yes; he manages to capture all the glorious excess and studio trickery of the genre's early-'80s heyday and inject soulful singing and hip-hop beats into the mix. Sims affects a voice that turns from an erotic groan to a falsetto croon in a heartbeat, but his straightforward delivery makes the moments of levity that much funnier. The humor is often hit or miss, but the poor moments are worth it for such giddy lyrics like: "She just wants some money/He just wants some sex/They make conversation like 'It's real hot out tonight.'" His backing tracks are also prodigious, often purposefully invoking the sound of another band (i.e., the "Blue Monday" intro in "Blue Day") before adding enough synthesizer noises and Moog-based weirdness to make it distinctly his own creation. More than anything else, Ultra Sex puts across the imagined personality of Sims, promoting his erotic fantasies and adventurous musical vision without ever letting the listener peek behind the curtain. The lack of personal lyrics may leave some cold, but the raw sexual honesty of tracks like "Come and Get It" don't require any introspective touches to remain effective. In his debut album, Mount Sims manages to kick down some boundaries and offer a throbbing, sensual slab of neo-electro that isn't afraid to offer some self-aware laughs.