Various - ShockRock
[PIAS]

A couple of years ago, the thought of a tight jeaned, long-haired, leather jacket donning Indie kid whipping out the glow sticks and invading the dance floors would have warranted a burning at the stake from their loyalist peers.

In recent times, however, bands are increasingly swapping their guitars for synths, Dirty Pretty things are playing Ibiza and the fundamentals of dance music have seeped slowly into Indie Rock culture.

Wall of Sound have wisely picked up on this melding of genres with ‘ShockRock’, a collection of pioneering, fresh and experimental sounds chosen particularly to mark this change.

Here, new and obscure artists are mixed with the established to strike up a quality balance. Long-term beat manipulators Soulwax’s punky “NY Excuse” bullies the boundaries and demonstrates the band’s comfortable status as leaders in the field.

Songs such as The Gossip’s almost commonplace “Standing In The Way Of Control” and Alan Braxe’s remix of DFA’s “Black History Month” stand alongside newer sounds such as locals Sunshine Underground’s “I ‘Aint Losing Any Sleep”, Whitey’s Dandy Warhol’s esque “Wrap It Up” and Shy Child’s “Down On Yourself”, which sounds like being lost inside an arcade of malfunctioning space games.

This album would be incomplete, however, without CSS’s own brand of off the wall Latin Disco granting instant appeal through their pure fun and unashamedly irresistible beats.
ShockRock is a confirmation that Indie disco has arrived and is sitting comfortably on the generic horizon- if not permanently, then certainly for a long stretch.

For those on top of the trend pile, ‘ShockRock’ is the record of the season and is impossible not to marvel at. On the other side of the fence, however, staunch traditionalists beware: if your principles won’t move, your feet certainly will.

ShockRock Track Listing:

01. Metronomy - You Could Easily Have Me
02. Shakes - Sister Self Doubt (Alternative Version)
03. Sunshine Underground - I Ain't Losing Any Sleep (Serge Santiago's Vocal Edit)
04. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
05. CSS - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
06. Infadels - Girl That Speaks No Words (Nightmoves Remix Single Edit)
07. Ahuman - Black Moon (Original Demo Version)
08. DFA 1979 - Black History Month (Alan Braxe And Fred Falke Remix)
09. Toyshop - Vilent Light
10. Whitey - Wrap It Up
11. Zoot Woman - Grey Day
12. Lo-Fi-Fnk - Change Channel
13. Shy Child - Down On Yourself
14. Soulwax - NY Excuse (Fast Version)
15. Friendly Fires - Your Love