Adult. Issue #25

Gimmie Trouble (Thrill Jockey)

By Garin Pirnia
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 3:28pm

Bands such as Kraftwerk, Death from Vegas, and the B-52's have the similarities of integrating synths that became prominent in the 1980s. Duo Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller are heavily influenced from that decade. With Gimmie Trouble, the Detroit duo continues its exploration in techno music, picking up from 2003's Anxiety Always. Though Anxietywasn't exactly groundbreaking music, people seem to like it, yet on Adult.'s latest disc, Gimmie Trouble, the duo falters.

Here, lead singer Kuperus' voice sounds like a disaffected and robotic version of Carrie Brownstein or the Flying Lizards. The album-opener, the dissonant and intense title track, and "Bad Ideas" sound amateur, as if they were rashly written in two minutes. The album contains tracks, like the no wave "Thought I Choked" and "Disappointed Youth," that offer some variation from the bass-synth repetitions. Yet, luckily, most of the tracks on Gimmie Trouble are terse, alleviating some of the annoyance.

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