YOURZ
Roisin Murphy is responsible for the vocals for some of the smartest dance music I'd ever heard when she was part of the duo, Moloko. I'm not a big dance music fan but really liked what they did.
I was hoping Roisin would continue in this vein and, for the most part, she has done. Elevating dance above the standard 'doof-doof' to something more is always going to be a hard ask but in Overpowered, she seems to have done it.
But this is what I would definitely term 'girl' music. It's great to play loud and dance about to, if so inclined, but it doesn't feed my inner-caveman and he's always hungry. Thankfully, this is also the sort of music that inspires Mine while she is cooking. The outer caveman is very thankful for this, let me tell ya.
Gripe time: what is it with tiny credit lists. I know CD sleeves are small and sometimes, an artist has a lot of people to give credit to. For trainspotters like me, however, using 2 point font means, short of buying a magnifying glass, I have no chance of reading them. Ms Murphy is most certainly not alone in doing this.
VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN
MINE
I was a fan from her Moloko days, so buying this album wasn't a stretch for me. It's one of my kitchen CDs - I like to play it when I'm on a cooking binge, as its danceability helps bounce me around through the gruelling bits, plus it's not so deep it distracts me. Kitchen music needs to be either danceable or singable - light or super-familiar. There's a CD shelf in the kitchen which usually holds a few compilations (the variety keeps me hopping) plus some big-ass songstresses like Ella Fitzgerald and Dusty Springfield.
While I was doing a bit of research for this post, I was surprised to see her dissing Lady GaGa for copying her looks. But then Roisin's always had her own wild fashion style, and if GaGa did copy it I'd think it'd be more of an homage rather than a straight lift. I guess I just don't like to see female artists catting it up. I prefer Overpowered to The Fame Monster, anyway.
VERDICT: TURN IT UP (But careful if you're dancing while holding sharp knives!)
For more information: http://www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy
