Some albums win you over with their charms over time, whereas others go straight for the jugular and hang on for dear life. You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into… is firmly in the latter.
And as the title suggests – and is more than likely to have been repeated ad nauseum along with their name – what lies beneath is a psychobabble of tunes that will see pro-Klaxons followers recoil in horror at their electro gaudiness, with others just merely missing the point entirely.
The easiest thing to do would be to lump in comparisons to artists such as The Ghost Frequency, Bloc Party and anyone else with some synths and a vocoder before giving it a half-decent mark, but even with these admittedly apparent comparisons – they aren’t re-inventing the wheel as such – there is definitely something good happening here.
From the manner of Doomed Now’s switch between distinctly indie tones to a pumping eighties electro-techno pulse to Dawn Of The Dead’s mid-tempo pseudo-ballad, the four-piece from Reading show that even if they seem sarcastic and disposable, there is distinct quality knocking around the brash exterior.
The singles, We Are Rockstars, Let’s Make Out and Weird Science are all present, which are easily described (in order) as ‘sexy’, ‘sleazy’ and ‘a bit like Justice’. Fragments of similarity do blight the latter, with …Science coming off second best to recent single …Rockstars, even with the sound of a burp/vomiting being an iconic symbol of the bridge.
It also highlights the fact that DIOYY are better when focussing their talents away from the instrumental stage. Epic Last Song is truly epic and a standout tune on the LP. The repeated calls of “Oh God” on With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You) accent the brutal live band that is unleashed in its full fury in this four-minute slab.
Ultimately, Being Bad Feels Pretty Good does feel somewhat undone against Epic Last Song with some of the beats and guitar parts feeling a little second rate in comparison, and Battle Royale is an exaggerated introduction, but the album as a whole is a good one – but not world beating.
The best indication of how to take the group is summed up by middle track, Attack Of The 60ft Lesbian Octopus, which is silly in name, and pretty much the same in nature too. What follows is a psychotic, faux-gothic/electronic mash-up that is both completely mental and irksome, when hunting for DIOYY’s more noteworthy additions.
They may have taken their name from a line in The Office, (it was the first thing that came to Dan Coop and James Rushent as they flicked on the telly) but there’s no reason to discredit them as complete jokers or no-hopers yet. There could be much more to come from them in the future with a little more application, but until then, just enjoy the ride.