Röyksopp's Night Out EP is pretty but largely inessential
I don't get it and I don't like it.
There are lots of people who love Royksopp. Here in LA they are a hipsters best friend, mostly due to KCRW's Nic Harcourt giving them a lot of air time. They really fit into Nic's playlist agenda, which is mainly about making me want to go back to bed everyday between 9am and noon. I think a lot of the traffic mess here in LA is caused by people drifting into the median after nodding off to Morning Becomes Narcoleptic. But that's another piece of grumping for another day. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Royksopp.
I don't mind downtempo. Only when it sounds like it belongs on K-BIG or some other adult contemporary leaning radio do I start to get that uneasiness like when my dad takes off his shirt to work in the yard. There is a certain kind of vocal associated with downtempo that I despise. It is in full effect on 'Only This Moment'. I don't know, maybe I am a snob. Well yes I am certainly a snob. But I listened to the first Royksopp album and liked only one song (Eple) and liked nothing on the second album. So what was I doing listening to this live ep in the first place? I guess I will give anything a chance. I am totally missing the appeal. I think if I drank more iced coffee and owned more stuff from Crate and Barrel it might make sense. Hogan nailed it with the Crate and Barrel line. I can totally see people in Silver Lake putting this on while starting dinner on their 'cream' colored plates and laying out their wooden-handled silverware. I eat off plates that were my fiancées grandmother and use silverware I found in a box (yes I cleaned them first). Is that reverse snobbery?
Marc Hogan says it is pretty but inessential. Marc, beauty is always essential. This can't be both. Inessential beauty is an oxymoron to this (me) guy. Marc I will send you something beautiful if you'd like, something that will make this album seem like the waste of plastic and paper that it is. But you cant have my cat. I have a lovely collection of ceramic owls. I get far more enjoyment out of them than any Royksopp album. Let me share my joy with you.
Reverse that 6.2 and then we are in business.
