Disco Biscuits
Planet Anthem

Do you like Subsonica? Good. These guys have nothing to do with them. Or at least, when I stumbled upon this peculiar jam band from Philadelphia while lost on the web, based on the enthusiastic opinions of overseas users, it seemed like they could be compared to our Turin-based group. I was misled by words like dance rock, electro jam, trance fusion, livetronica. Yes, the live dimension. Surely, like good jam musicians, the Pennsylvania quartet’s attitude is better tested live rather than on a record.

Active since the second half of the '90s, and perhaps influenced by a certain electronic vibe that was "booming" during those years, these guys attempt to introduce new sounds into the jam circuit. It seems that their shows rarely last less than three hours, often in clubs or gatherings with a strong rave/dance component.

This "Planet Anthem" came out last year, and after careful listening, I can say that the Disco Biscuits are nothing transcendental: there are no particular virtuosity displays, nor unusual intersections between rock's roughness and the slickness of the clubbing dimension. Regarding their frequent mention (in specialized sites) among the sacred monsters of the jam scene, it seems absolutely out of place to me, and not only because of the different genre they play. However, I repeat, since they are a live band, it's crucial to see what they do on stage.

But let's go through the tracklist: the opening is entrusted to "Loose Change", which despite a banal lyric (which I like, because it takes on money, ed) reminds me a bit of Tears for Fears and has a chorus built on very nice melodic lines, even if not entirely original. The two singles are "On Time" (but who is and what the hell will this TU PHACE do?!..), which immediately drops the funky record - and that’s exactly what you’d expect from a band named as they are - and "You & I", which is a rock-dance anthem drenched in house sounds and silly lyrics (which Subsonica would never dream of writing :-) These songs would guide the record toward predictable cheesy sounds, but then the slow and reverberated arpeggios of "Widgets" start and a Radiohead-esque ghost appears at the door. And if nothing else, it reshuffles the deck.

I apologize for the continuous references to other musical realities, but it’s to better convey the idea of the very varied influences present in this album. That said, in "Uber Glue", the electronics become more refined and remind me of Faithless, just as the trip hop of "Rain Song", sung by an unknown female guest, could feature on a Groove Armada tracklist. "Sweatbox" seems instead like a poor copy of Outkast's "Hey Ya". The penultimate track, "Vacation", is perhaps the best episode of the record, but it's something that is just a bit more than a power ballad and a bit less than a midtempo, and we return thus to full rock-pop territory...

The production is very good, as careful as required for those dealing with electronic sounds. The lyrics are most often banal, but rightly pay a price that is typical of pseudo-dance music.

"Planet Anthem" partially convinces: in parts, it has exactly what you'd expect, in others, it surprises you. It is indeed heterogeneous, but without being cohesive: in the great variety of styles, some episodes - such as the Beatles-esque "Fish out of Water" - even manage to clash. For the rest, nothing adds to what has already been said by the myriad attempts to combine played and synthesized music.

A point in favor is the beautiful artwork by Storm Thorgerson, who has lately been a bit fixated on wrapped human figures (could it be a sign of the overall crumpling of the times we live in? ed)

What else to say? In regulation time, Subsonica beats Disco Biscuits two to zero.

Key tracks: Rain Song, Vacation, On Time, Loose Change