The Count and Sinden are aiming to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight with their debut album, Mega Mega Mega. The duo have played the long game and built up anticipation surrounding the release. Could they be about to take off? Or are they are preparing for a big fall? Zoë Turton won’t make you wait so long for the answers.
The Count & Sinden – Mega Mega Mega
Released: 23/08/2010
It’s taken two years in the making, and after such a long interim between the house DJ’s first dance floor beast ‘Beeper’, the album which is adorned with guest appearances, doesn’t quite live up to the high expectations. There’s a lack of consistency on The Count and Sinden’s debut album Mega Mega Mega, but it’s not all bad news.
Let’s start with the good. Collaborating with the Mystery Jets on ‘After Dark’ works wonderfully to the duo’s favour, bringing with them a catchy, calypso feel and a whole load of bongos to give the combo the runaway song of the summer. On paper it shouldn’t work, and at times you wonder what combination of sounds you’re listening to but it stands out from the crowd, with vibes resembling Basement Jaxx’s finest party days. Who’d have thought Mystery Jets would have been bringing that to the table eh?
The title track ‘Mega’ is a relentless rave wrapped up in a song, definitely living up to its name. An electronic carnival continues on dup it-girl Katy B’s collaborative effort ‘Hold Me’, which fuses latin beats and grimy rhythms.
At times the duo, signed to Domino Records, are so wonderfully experimental combining influences from all genres successfully. But at other times it just doesn’t work and the results are tame and lacking a vibrant edge. ‘Hardcore Girls’ featuring female rapper Rye Rye could easily be heard playing at the back of a bus on a tinny phone speaker by some unruly teenager. While ‘Elephant 1234’ is horribly repetitive and will have a hard time transferring to even the most underground, quirky of clubs. ‘Addicted to you’ featuring grime wordsmith ‘Bashy’ isn’t boundary-pushing or clever in the way much of his solo work has previously been. It could be any other summer rap track on the radio; saying that it is friendly on the ears so will probably be a hit somewhere along the line.
Final track ‘You make me feel so good’ is a nice departure from the rave atmosphere created earlier on the album. A beautiful soundscape with underlying dubstep elements that tranquilly echoes to close the album peacefully.
‘The Count’ aka scene DJ Hervé, is constantly creating music under different guises, part of the reason for the delay in ‘Mega Mega Mega’ coming to fruition. So if it takes them another two years to produce their next album together, we can only hope that they don’t play it safe because when they get it right they really are two of the most creative DJ’s amongst the pack.
By Zoë Turton
Tags: after dark, count & sinden, Katy B, mega mega mega
