The Bloody Beetroots : Romborama
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m completely in favor of bizarre costumes supplementing the enigma of electronic artists—after-all, it is a genre which is largely fueled by escapism. However, for the sake of the music’s integrity, an artist should be a musician first and then decide what kind of costume best amplifies their persona afterward. Unfortunately, the Bloody Beetroots’ Romborama gives off the sense that the pair of Tommy Tea and Bobby Rifo found some gothic looking masks in a thrift shop and subsequently decided they were going to build music around their newly acquired costumes.
This is not to say that the record is unlistenable it’s just generic. Songs like “Warp 1.9” and “Cornelius” sound like they were probably exciting live but on wax, the sublime synths just don’t translate. A common criticism surrounding dance music is that it’s “dumb” and hedonistic. This perception has lately been debunked by artists like Hot Chip and Justice, both of whom produced complex and multilayered records, not just music meant to summon globs of serotonin. The largest problem with Romborama, is that it does feel weakly developed, especially on tracks like the Cool Kids-assisted “Awesome” and “Butter” where song structure feels absent and slave to monotonous loops. J. Davey helps the Beetroots find a little saving grace on the melodic “Make Me Blank” but this salvation is too little, too late.
Romobrama just isn’t pulling its weight in electro’s currently fruitful renaissance…even if the dudes have cool masks.
Similar Albums:
Boys Noize – Oi Oi Oi
Crookers – Knobbers EP
MSTRKRFT – The Looks
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