Misfits Of Science: MOS Presents

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * *)

That the Misfits of Science chose the week of Halloween to release their debut album is fitting.

It's not just that they can sound like an American import designed to frighten the neighbours with strange costumes and juvenile behaviour, but there is something very trick-or-treat about their hip-hop.

MOS Presents is a big bag of purloined lollies; a 15-track playful sugar rush with mischief on its mind and some dark and sometimes dubious intentions beyond the cartoon trappings of the pair's image and the radio-friendly hit single Fools Love.

Well, if you are going to title songs Kiddie Fiddlin' or Attack of the Dickriders, or have a track like Horror Flick - which sounds with all its screaming like Scary Movie, the Musical - you are going to stand out in New Zealand hip-hop. And you are certainly going to earn that Parental Advisory Sticker - hey, just like those American albums.

But saying they rap in American accents isn't exactly an insult to Colossal (Yudhi Moodley) and Optimus (Steve McQuinn). Mainly because it's just one of the many they use - especially on the comedic interludes - on an album that's multilingual enough to get them a Womad gig, should the festival ever acquire a sense of humour. Musically though, the blueprint is as Yankophile as their wardrobe.

You'll hear traces of OutKast, Timbaland and especially Eminem throughout the 15 tracks here. The latter's famous whine is often the delivery of choice, and even Eight Mile gets a tongue-in-cheek namecheck along the way. Then again, so does Supergroove's Can't Get Enough and that song's frantic spirit is a constant feature throughout the duo's tag-team raps.

The album is produced with a bright clarity by Simon Holloway, whose past credits have leaned towards pop albums, not hip-hop, and there's hardly a turntable-scratch within earshot.

Instead, a combination of warped strings and woodwind over-beats - that can sound variously like a runaway carnival or a hot-rodded '80s drum machine - support the pair's motormouths.

The opener, Look at Em, is blessed with a timpani-jazz beat - sounding like it escaped the final Propellerheads album or might one day soundtrack the Skull Island scenes on Kong - and gets things off to a swingin' beginning.

From there on, tracks like Chemical Madness undoubtedly state their lyrical agenda: We're the Misfits of Science and you're not.

Yes, they do step outside that sometimes, but it's an album that revels in its lack of anything meaningful to say and doesn't exactly wear its geography on its velour Sean John leisure-suit sleeve.

But talk about stupidly infectious - whether it's Catch Up, or Mmmhmm with its Beastie Boys-styled shout-a-long of a chorus. Or the aforementioned Kiddie Fiddlin', which isn't quite as worrying as its title suggests.

However, it sounds like the makers of bro'Town and the Misfits should really knock heads before their next production. While Attack of the Dickriders and La Musica mixes it up with some wobbly ragga-beats, Lump It could easily be the amusingly groovy result of Marshall Mathers guest starring on the Muppets backed by Prince. Yes, really.

So, lots to laugh at. Fortunately its spark is big and colourful enough to last beyond Guy Fawkes or the release of the new Eminem album. Say hello to the Misfits, the sound of one cray-zee summer.


Label: HOOF/BMG