Box Codax - 'Only an Orchard Away' (Thin Man)

A strange side-project of a Franz Ferdinand guy, this record veers between goofy toy-electro ('Pollockshields Girls') to creepy, undanceable disco ('Naked Smile', 'Missed Her Kiss') to warped canyon-jams ('Like a Rock'). Does it ever stop to figure itself out? Does it have an identity? Not really, but there's some totally retarded drum programming to enjoy while you try to make sense of it. Ah, Germans. A few novelty bits like 'I Swam With the Otter' are just fucking unbearable, but then there's occasionally some goof-offs that work, like 'Do It With Charm', with European street music flair and extemporised lyrics. I mean, most of this record comes off like a total joke but one that is done quite strictly. If I'm struggling to find something kind to say, I'll comment that you can definitely hear the friendship of the participants, and the jokes are actually too strange (or too "inside") to be funny to anyone, so maybe you can reinterpret this as serious 'art' music. The voice of a new generation. What the kids are into. You know. I've been to Pollokshields and the girls aren't anything to write home about, but I'm strangely forgiving of this bit of goofing off.