Slipped disc #15: Laika

Another proof that there is no logic to consumerism is Dido’s selling 2-point-x million albums in a very few months her latest opus has been instore. Many more interesting releases get overlooked in favour of her mediocre account and Laika is certainly one of them. The twosome have been in existence for almost a dozen years and are still steadfastly untergrund as at any time during their career.

‘Whatever I Am, I Am What Is Missing’ starts invigoratingly with ‘Girl Without Hands’, an ambient-cum-dancey little booty-shaker that equally employs dream-like quality… ‘Falling Down’ picks up the pace but it is somewhat restrained, almost playful with intriguing keyboard motif. Alphabet Soup’ is as sex-charged as anything Goldfrapp does in a more relaxed moment, breathlessly erotic. ‘Oh’ is equipped with the same lusty smell that reigns the bedroom air…

‘Barefoot Blues’ is infectiously funky, ‘Diamonds & Stones’ is more on the entrancing end, ‘Fish For Nails’ flies along like a bullet-train although remains dirty and somewhat pervert-sounding… ‘King Sleepy’ ends our all-too-short association with another serving of deliciously mid-paced muscle‘n’soul ‘hallucination’… Far cry from the ‘rockist’ approach of their previous, ‘Good Looking Blues’ (2000) disc. [The gap occurred due to band’s singer touring with PJ Harvey, among other things.]

Guy Fixsen and Margaret Fiedler make music than combines electronic gear with organic instruments and relies on human touch more than it does on the cybertronics. The press release is succinct: “Their music embraces a brave new electronic world, yet remains thoroughly organic, tactile and warm.” The creative duo have altered their recording approach by dispensing with obsessing over minutiae of the previous three albums and lyrics have become more direct rather than the impressionistic words of yore.

Thus making this album a raw and spontaneous work that gets to the core of emotions and pulls your heartstrings, flooding your emo system and de-activating your hormonal controls. Well, if we had your choice we’d bypass Dido’s offering because she puts us into catatonic state and go for Laika’s CD as it urges us, to continue the analogy, to bed for different, and more satisfying, reasons.

Calling themselves Laika evokes adventure, being first (the dog was in outer space) but it is inappropriate because it means ‘Barker’, which this band certainly is not, being more into atmo than any aggro. In a soundbyte, a lascivious listening.

8.7/10