- It takes quite a pair to name yourself Spandex in a pop-culture knee-deep in an '80s revival. But Matt Southall (Spandex) doesn't even bother to touch any of the other "requisites," be it neon imagery or aviator shades, and we're all the better for it. As a Spymania alum and current Hand on the Plow mainstay, Spandex has stitched together a comfortable niche from the remains of glitch-pop. His work looks back to the sampled textures of Herbert as much as the tension between vocal tics and ticking vocals of Super_Collider. All the ingredients were in the Spandex debut, "Snakeskin Teeth"—a track full of drunken mumbles, prickly drums and a fistful of seams made from cut-ups. But the crucial part of Spandex's sound is how each track stumbles downward, how slivers of melody trickle along.
At risk of hyperbole, "Bermuda Triangle" might be his best single yet. There's an urgency to the lead track—mostly found in an aggressive, billowing Mr. Oizo-ish bassline—that changes the tone of Spandex's shamble-sample house. With a nervous buzz underneath, "Bermuda Triangle" is stuffed to the gills with filets of woozy gospel screams and snare fills. There's a subtle re-invention here, but one that leaves a mumblecore Spandex actually sounding unhinged and flailing. Placed alongside a remix of his previous single "What's Wrong With You," you hear just how much Spandex was tempered by his slower grooves. Sure, the track is an entirely pleasant remake with plenty of stutters and squiggles, but it has none of the anxious grit that blesses "Bermuda Triangle" either. Let's hope Spandex gets lost a little bit longer in that sound.
Tracklist A Bermuda Triangle
B1 Fourth Wall
B2 What's Wrong With You (New York Remix)