Ceephax Acid Crew, aka
Andy Jenkinson, has always made music that had a little touch of hysteria at its core and that tended to go off on weird freak-out tangents. Not so
United Acid Emirates, which is a disarmingly uncomplicated celebration of all things cheesily wonderful about 1980s electro-pop. Cue up the first track, "Cedric's Sonnet," and you may think you've stumbled upon a snarky parody of vintage electronic funk -- but as the album continues in that vein, you realize that what sounded at first like irony is really straightforward affection. (OK, maybe the syndrums on "The Celebrity" are meant a little bit sarcastically, but still.) The beats vary somewhat but stay mostly in a thumping house mode, from the goofy good-time bump of "Sidney's Sizzler" and "Castilian" to the frenetically hand-waving "Arcadian (Castilian II)" and the overly repetitive plod of "New River Company." "Life Funk" changes things up a bit, adding some slightly tired but still fun
James Brown samples and opening up the music's texture a bit; "Denizlispor" takes everything in a more quietly pulsing, nearly ambient direction. But for the most part this is a very straightforward dance party soundtrack, one that will please ironically retro hipsters and middle-aged
Depeche Mode fans in pretty much equal measure. ~ Rick Anderson