Filthy Dukes Nonsense

My last post was quite lazily brief, mainly because I was caught up in all the excitement of that incredible new Phoenix album. Recently though, I've begun to tire off listening to their marvellous brand of French indie on repeat, and I've moved on to pastures new for the time being. I got my hands on Nonsense In The Dark - the new Filthy Dukes album - the other day, and it's definitely my favourite electro/club record of the year so far. Fist of God was good, but a bit too hip-hop oriented for my liking; FD manage to get the balance right where MSTRKRFT couldn't.

The album starts with that over-played single of recent weeks, 'This Rhythm', which is a fairly solid place to start, but it then progresses on to one of the highlights of the album almost immediately - 'Elevator' - which has some of the best vocal work on the whole LP. It's a nice kind of electro-indie jam, with a weird ethereal vibe. Definitely a new favourite of mine. 'What Happens Next' comes in after that, another quality track, bringing a nice bit of happy bounciness. The vocals start off slightly whiny, but the chorus has got a cool sing-a-long style to it which is instantly appealing. 'Tupac Robot Club Rock', which comes midway through the album, is EPIC. Although I think I still prefer their own remix version of it.

As a whole, it's a pretty solid debut (I only gave one track less than 4 stars, but that might just be because I love FD), and it ranges nicely from club bangers - to use a Westwoodism - to bouncy indie and electro: sometimes on the same song. There's also a nice handful of instrumental tracks, like 'Twenty Six Hundred', which comes across as fairly soft electro compared to some of their stuff, but still has a nice drive to it, and 'Somewhere At Sea', which is a beautifully chilled out piano-ballad type song.

Overall, it's well worth getting - Filthy Dukes are doing a lot for the London Electro scene.

Filthy Dukes - What Happens Next Buy
Filthy Dukes - Tupac Robot Club Rock Buy