The Black Ghosts - Mixtape Album Review

TheBlack Ghosts
Mixtape
Album Review

Theo Keating and Simon Lord's backgrounds may be fascinating (Lord is ex-vocalist of psychedelic dream poppers Simian and his grandfather played the oboe on The Beatles A Day In The Life, Keating is formerly of the have movement, will set up camp scenesters Wiseguys) but they're certainly far from household names, so therefore a DJ set release at this stage is a tad self indulgent then?

Well usually yes. But this is no big brand Ibeeza rip off for the Fake Tales of San Francisco crowd. Underneath the cheesy seventies Marvel comics cover and the accompanying facade of tongue in cheek arcanery, The Black Ghosts have pulled together a set of underground slabs that they somewhat inaccurately describe as electro-noir. There's no need to be afraid of headless zombies and brain eating aliens however; the scariest thing here is the rave-ragga break and ancient loops of Boy 8-Bit's oldish skool Fog Bank.

The prelude to a full blown album, ..Mixtape is actually a contemporary tossed salad featuring the kind of tech-disco club tunes which won't be heard in your local Wetherspoons, of which roughly half is derived from either remixes of original material from Lord and Keating's alter egos. There's an obligatory nod to the grand-peres of reinvention Daft Punk (Boy 8-Bit again on opener The Suspense Is Killing Me), the expected raft of heavily processed bleeps and beats, whilst Siriusmo's Louie Louie goes acid-house Discosaur should be responsible for the removal of a vertebrae or two.

What with everything being so artificial though it's a joy whenever a real bassline surfaces, as Beth Ditto is draped ceremonially across the rainbow garage of Listen Up, whilst Salford's The Whip may have moved on from their early New Order pastiches but Muzzle #1 underlines why they were so good at them. Boding well for the duo though, the best is rightfully last and their own work; Anyway You Choose To Give It is an insistent slice of dementia which should be filling rather than clearing most crypt dance floors near you. Not quite as leftfield as it makes out, this is more Scooby Doo than Hammer House of Horror.

3/5

Andy Peterson