Totally Enormous Extinct DinosaursWith a name like Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (or TEED for short), Orlando Higginbottom was always going to get noticed. Add to that one of his tracks being used in a major Nokia commercial, racking up a whopping 2.5 million views on YouTube, plus recording with Damon Albarn and remixing Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Professor Green, and you've got a fast ticket to success.
Trouble, the debut album from the English dance music producer/DJ is really exciting, cleverly combining a range of styles from house-driven, melodic tracks to dirty beats and electronica. Over the top is a softening layer of Higginbottom's emotive lyrics that are a nod to James Blake and The Whitest Boy Alive's Erlend Øye.
Released as a double single at the same time as the album, American Dream Part II is at the more electronic end of the spectrum, featuring grimy beats and a melody that harks back to early Sasha, while album finisher, Stronger, adds more '90s inspired greatness. Tapes And Money is similarly powerful with a chorus that has an uncanny resemblance to The Whitest Boy Alive hit Courage.
TEED's biggest track to date, Garden, is fun, poppy and hugely addictive. If you don't find yourself tapping your feet to this one, you need your ears tested! Taking things down a notch, Fair brings in a beautifully ethereal female vocal and You Need Me On My Own is the album's key love song, albeit a funked up version, as he sings “This love is always all I've got in my head/Can't stop thinking of you.”
Trouble is a cracking debut from an artist that is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
