Mr Oizo - Lambs Anger

5th Mar 2009

Word on the street is that Lambs Anger, the third album from Mr Oizo, aka Quentin Dupieux, is his best yet. However, with my knowledge of the Wazzo back catalogue limited to Flat Beat, I'm only qualified to pass judgement on this set.

With 17 songs that would snugly fit onto a single side of a cassette tape, it's quite a brief affair, which is no bad thing. There's an equal share of short, weird ditties, like Rank and Lars von Sen sitting alongside longer, stiffer tracks like Two Takes It (Featuring Carmen Castro} and Bruce Willis Is Dead; the latter type managing to hold their own when lifted out of context.

Context though is what holds these disparate tracks together as an album. Without the 74 seconds of buzzing and clicking noises that make up title track Lambs Anger, the funky beats of Cut Dick or the summery beauty of Jo would pale significantly. It's this perfect balance of pace and style that makes the tuneless bits acceptable (not unlike the approach Modeselektor bring to their albums). I'm also a bit of a sucker for foreign language snippets, of which there's plenty (Positif, Pourriture 7, Lars Von Sen etc.).

It took over 20 listens but I finally appreciate it. And I recommend it too.

9/10 | 20+ listens