Tags:

Genre: Rap/Electro/New Wave
Location: South Africa
Our Rating:

Playdoe are a duo of techno-savvy hipsters from Johannesburg, South Africa. When I last visited family in South Africa, my cousin raved to me about a band called `Just Jinger` – “huge in SA, absolutely brilliant,” she raved. Sadly, they sucked, as did most of the other `pop music` I heard on the radio, all pale imitations of Keane, U2 or the Backstreet Boys. It was dire.

Thankfully, Playdoe don’t share their peers’ ambition to be MOR, and their debut EP has some brilliant tunes. `Neolectro Afrobot` sounds exactly as you’d hope it would: like a horny dancing robot unleashed in a nightclub full of grinding nymphomaniacs. You see, drinking, dancing and sex (ing) are quite high on Playdoe’s lyrical agenda. To Party Is To Live. Expect nightmarish synths blipping at you like a retro computer game, scratching decks straight from hip-hop shockers, 2 Live Crew, and cascading glissandos hammered out from Casio keyboard-cum-calculators. If that’s not your thing, you’d best put those sneakers back on the shelf and call a taxi home. This is music for cool kids in cool clubs and if you can’t accept that, you probably weren’t invited in the first place.

Frosty detachment aside, Playdoe’s ice-cool exterior hides a wealth of musical ideas and substance. How could you not be seduced by the bouncing groove of `Metro` – with its ominous lyrics about “howling at the moon” – or the euphoric, disco-killing anthem, `It’s That Beat` – a pulsating ode to boomboxes and getting fruity on the dancefloor? This is scary music, full of monsters, red-blooded instinct and furious rapping that manages to surpass most of what’s on offer on the brilliant Ed Banger compilations.

Justice, M.I.A, Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip and Simian Mobile Disco have all been at the forefront of making innovative and sexy electro music that rocks as hard as its guitar-driven cousins. It looks like Playdoe have just earned their place on that list. Sorry `Just Jinger`, I’ve just found a new favourite South African band.

YouTube Preview Image

VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Your Rating: (Click to Vote)
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Comments (0)

Latest Album Reviews

Album Of The Week

Enter Shikari - ''A Flash Flood Of Colour''

The St. Albans noiseniks are back with their third studio album and a slew of tour dates in 2012, beware.

New Music Radar

Secret Rivals

  The dreaming spires are not all to be envied in Oxford – the current music scene is one of the brightest in the UK, and indie pop quartet Secret Rivals are one of the latest bands to emerge from the city in a haze of jangling guitars and vocal hooks, single ‘Once More With [...] Continue Reading »

Show Of The Week

Death From Above 1979 @ Manchester Academy

Toronto dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979 return to our shores after their untimely split in 2006. Having played a handful of festivals, DFA1979 are once again a potent force to be reckoned with.

Top Free Download

Pinemarten - ''Here It Is' EP'

Beautiful pop soundscapes from a mysterious Derbyshire producer.

Competitions