It seems strange to think that house music has been around for long enough that people have started to get nostalgic about the old days, but that's the neatest explanation for
Fuckpony's
Children of Love. A project by Berlin-based techno stalwarts
Jay Haze and
Samim Winiger, who have worked as a duo together under a variety of names,
Children of Love features 13 tracks rooted in the sound of the early days of house music in Detroit and Chicago in the late '80s when disco, hip-hop, and synth pop were fusing into something previously unheard. Giant synth basslines, snap-crackle-pop electro beats, fragments of synthesizer melodies, and vocals consisting of deadpan chants by anonymous female singers:
Children of Love features all of this and...well, frankly, not much more. But wisely,
Haze and
Winiger leaven their club-fillers with just enough melody and humor to make
Children of Love more than a tired, schematic retro exercise. At its best, most notably on the naggingly insistent "Cell Phone Hit," the hypnotic distortion of "93 @ 4 AM," and the atypically tuneful "Ride the Pony,"
Children of Love transcends its initial inspirations. ~ Stewart Mason