code meets music

I think I’ve written here before about how awesome the Rough Trade Shops ‘Counter Culture’ albums are. At the beginning of each year since 2003 they’ve released a double-CD compilation containing what the staff consider to be the best of the previous year’s music. Counter Culture 2005 contained on it a song called ‘My Machine’ by the artist Princess Superstar. I liked it a lot and as a result found a few other songs from the album, which were also pretty cool. I finally got around to buying the album, and it’s really, really good. A definite mixture of dance, electronica, indie/rock and hip-hop, it’s an album that should appeal to a lot of people.

The 25 tracks tell the story of a future world where there is only one celebrity- Superstar, her having taken over the world with a number of clones, or ‘duplicants’- where children are taught to speak (they ordinarily telepath), through the medium of rap. It’s probably the most amusing album I’ve listened to (“Quitting Smoking Song” is hilarious) but also really easy to listen to; the songs are so different from one another, but all are fast-paced and catchy.

My Machine is the highlight of the album, but I’m so Out of Control, 10000 Hits and Sex, Drugs & Drugs are well worth listening to.