Midnight Juggernauts – Uncanny Valley

This should be a good time for Midnight Juggernauts. Yet Uncanny Valley just feels like an also-ran in today’s electronic scene, a poor man’s Daft Punk....
Midnight Juggernauts : Uncanny Valley
6.5 Siberia
2013 

Midnight Juggernauts : Uncanny ValleyThis should be a good time for Midnight Juggernauts.  Electronic music is on the rise worldwide, not just in commercial success but also critical acclaim.  The band’s Francophile style (while from Melbourne, they were introduced to the wider world by Justice) is particularly hot right now – Daft Punk (QRO album review) were able to turn down an appearance on The Colbert Report (QRO Indie On Late Night TV).  Yet Uncanny Valley just feels like an also-ran in today’s electronic scene, a poor man’s Daft Punk.

Uncanny Valley starts with some promise in opener “HCL”, which is restrained to beat, vocals, and atmosphere – but it never builds into anything more, and that can be said of the record as a whole.  The synth-atmospherics of the following “Ballad of the War Machine” are done in an eighties style that’s been done before in recent years by many artists (including Midnight Juggernauts themselves).  Either such an avenue is underdone, such as on the simplistic “Streets of Babylon” and following “Sugar and Bullets”, or overdone, like with the over-the-top single “Memorium” and closer “Melodiya”.  The neo-Beatles psych-shine to “Master of Gold” and “Systematic”, meanwhile, just sticks to the simplistic side of things (like so much that’s labeled ‘neo-Beatles’).  Only the “Deep Blue Lines” takes the band in a more interesting turn.

In a way, it’s not fair that time has passed Midnight Juggernauts by, as they were there first on debut Dystopia (QRO review), way back in 2007 (so long ago Daft Punk did actual concerts…), with exciting live shows (QRO live review).  But since then they haven’t grown that much, while the electronic music scene has grown by leaps and bounds, and Midnight Juggernauts have gone from ahead of the curve to behind it.

Midnight Juggernauts – Deep Blue Lines

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