If you're one of the people who sit around and moan about how 'new-rave' artists such as Klaxons and New Young Pony Club embody about as much rave as the Tuesday night Variety Show at your local old folks' home, Simian Mobile Disco's debut album might finally satiate your jitterbugging aspirations. The dance dyad formed from the ashes of English electro-rockers Simian, who split in 2005 and have recently inspired a renewed interest through the remix of their 'We Are Your Friends' track by similar French electro duo Justice. James Ford (who produced the latest Arctic Monkeys album) and James Shaw, Simian's rhythm section, took their lead from their indie beginnings, and with Simian Mobile Disco, thrust themselves into the current milieu of dance acts that it's OK for indie kids to like. While such a statement may lump them in with the aforementioned Klaxons, SMD make unadulterated dance music which occasionally utilises guest vocalists, but is mostly a total techno-tinged fest. Overall, Attack Decay Sustain Release is an album that sounds like it would be best appreciated in a festival setting, as most of the ten tracks here are unrelenting, energetic, beat-crazed thumpers that provide a perfect soundtrack to dance your socks off to (see: the pulsating Sleep Deprivation, icy-cool clipped beats of Hustler or wandering Korg riff and manic chatter of Hotdog). There are occasional allusions to mid-90s dance giants like Orbital and Future Sound of London, too, and even an apparent nod towards Cafe del Mar-style ambience (parts of I Got This Down and Wooden). The standout tracks are the ones that feature those aforementioned special guests, however. Ninja of The Go! Team raps tautly over a whirling mass of heavy bleeps and catchy hooks on It's the Beat, and Barry Dobbin of electropoppers Clor makes an appearance on the excellent Love, a song with a funky bass twang and crossover quality that recalls The Rapture or LCD Soundsystem. Attack Decay Sustain Release isn't imaginative enough to top any album of the year awards, but as far as supposed 'indie-friendly' dance collections go, it's not half bad.
