Padded Cell - Moon Menace

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  • Padded Cell’s Richard Sen made quite an impression last year with his 12”s ‘Signal Failure’ and ‘Are You Anywhere?’, and ‘Moon Menace’, although very likeable, is no great departure from its predecessors’ dark-disco stylings. With its tirelessly pumping rhythm, chugging electronics and artfully brooding electric guitars echoing off to one side of the mix, this would have fitted right in as one segment of LCD Soundsystem’s epic 45’33” jogging-music piece for Nike, released late last year. In fact, the breakdown in the middle of ‘Moon Menace’ sounds just perfect for reviving spirits of tired joggers before they sprint onwards. ‘Faces of the Forest’ is an altogether seedier affair, sounding like something fermented in the bowels of the New York underground. Over a stomping rhythm, snarling Clash-like guitars prang, and a saxophone swoops and squawks like a distressed bird; and a dirty, aggressive bass rumbles menacingly. The New Wave-influenced feel (with elements of punk and reggae tossed seamlessly into the mix) is very seductive, and while neither of the tracks have the immediate appeal of a ‘Signal Failure’, if this is an indication of the direction Padded Cell is headed, I’m more than willing to follow him there.
  • Tracklist
      A Moon Menace B Faces of the Forest
RA