Album Review: Sonicanimation - Once More From The Bottom

Often, the most visceral dance music can be tracked through the ingestibles that fuelled the artists making it. To that, we thank Cypress Hill for digging their reefer, The Chemical Brothers for being partial to MDMA and Primal Scream for owning shares in Pfizer. Late '90s Aussie techno-larrikins sonicanimation always seemed to be charging their UDLs. Thus, hits like Theophilus Thistler and Love Lies Bleeding managed to pack dancefloors with DayGlo-coloured, tongue-filled cheeks.

So, returning after a six-year hiatus, the duo are clearly still not taking themselves too seriously. Once More From The Bottom seems lyrically aware that their stock has not remained high and that there is much work to be re-done to get back up to speed. Embracing this, the band funded the album with a very successful Pledge Music campaign, even getting fans to contribute video footage for lead single I Will Be Twisted (bitter break-up tale in rave form; far from the strongest offering here). However, this winning modernisation of practices has not been extended to their style. Taking the Gotye route on a folk-buskering cover of The Message starts a collection of songs that jumps around genres that are either close to, or well past their sell-by date. There's primitive dubstep wub-wub on Punk On The Dancefloor, kindergarten pleasing house in The Pick Up Artist and an apparent tribute to Cotton Eyed Joe in (Hey Lady) I Just Wanna Dance. It's all kinda innocuous fun that neither inspires nor offends, until the bizarrely awful Space Invaders-meets-opera Twins.

So the UDLs remain firmly on the Sonic rider, leaving an occasionally amusing yet ultimately dated taste in the mouth.