Los Paranoias began as techno producers in Brighton when it was the UK’s clubbing capital, but now the rock revolution is in full swing, they’re not sure how to realign to the displacement. For their debut album they remain an electronic act, but with the qualification that they play ‘rocking electronica’.
Here lies the crux of this album’s problem: it is trying to be all things, guitars and synths, chill out and dance. The opening track ‘Klang Und Schonheit’ isn’t bad; it has an epic rock feel, with vocals softly waxing and waning in the background. But this mock- Spacemen 3 sensibility slips somewhere down the cracks between songs. ‘Queen B’ starts out with a guitar lick that would make a gorgeous film soundtrack, until the highly unoriginal, skippy drumbeat lets it down. But it’s when the deep jungle-style distorted bass-line comes in that all sense is lost.
‘Lies Lies Lies’ tries to be a driving, dark commentary on ‘the system’ etc, but the monotonal lyrics don’t serve to demonstrate the banality of how “nothing changes” as presumably intended, and it just sounds like electro-by- numbers. The tracks that work best – ‘If I Squint…’ or ‘Life Like A Film’ suggest that their music could work well as a film score, and that they can write percussive loops in more unusual time-signatures than 4/4 or two step.
If acts such as Groove Armada and Zero 7 get you going, then there is probably something in Los Paranoias that you’ll dig. If you like intricately written guitar or electronic music that really opens doors, avoid.