I’ve been waiting for a dance music release like this all year. It’s got it all – the kind of funky beat that starts early in the evening as you’re getting ready, grooving through your apartment in a full mud mask and curlers, then carries you into the car with your head bobbing on the way to the club, and on to the dance floor where your make-up drips off hours later. You care less what you look like and more about what you feel like – happy, fancy free and nauty.
Jen Lasher is definitely leaning towards the electroclash and industrial corner of the floor with beauties like Roxanne’s “Fashion,” Naommon’s “I am Not Ashamed” (think Frankie Goes to Hollywood) and Wolfsheim’s “Once in a Lifetime.” Towards the end she gets a bit of the Devo meets Peaches love affair going with her own track “No More Tears,” a 100% modern day diva track.
DJ Baby Anne caught my ear with her earlier release this year called Mixtress, and on Assault & Battery she heads out of the rod iron gate with Front 242 undertones on the opening track “Throwdown” from Scratch-D (Dynamix II) featuring Brazen. Now it’s time to break out your moon boots and get down space age funky style. You don’t have to be a silver skinned street performer or break dancer in a time warp to appreciate these robotic themes. With what could be considered the new James Bond theme, “Freaks Groove,” she breaks out her own self-produced track along with the submarine slink of “She’s the Devil.”
It’s getting close to the holidays where were looking back and thinking ahead (and not just at long lines and packed parking lots). When it comes to electronic music releases for this year, the duo DJ Baby Anne & Jen Lasher are on my Santa list for sure, the one where naughtiness gets rewarded and nice gets coal.
