For Real

Where You Go I Go Too
Lindstrøm
Smalltown Supersound, 2008
4 stars

When I was a kid my cousin and I would often listen to my old man’s cassette of the musical version of War Of The Worlds, but that was more for a laugh than anything else. Who would have expected that in the second half of 2008 we’d be listening to the same kind of stuff, let alone actually taking it seriously. ‘Cosmic disco’ is Hans-Peter Lindstrøm’s style – yes, ‘cosmic disco’ - and on this album he pumps it out with the reckless abandon of someone who doesn’t know what’s ‘cool’ and, clearly, doesn’t care. The phrase “so bad it’s good” was written for stuff like this: three epic space disco tracks, clocking in at 28, 10 and 15 minutes respectively, that will (possibly in order) make you laugh, cry, dance like a fool and disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Now, where’s that cassette player …

Artwork: B
I actually think this album's cover is one of the reasons people have taken to so seriously - it's just a nice, plain photo of Hans-Peter smiling. But listening to the album I can imagine a really bad Photoshop job, with some nebula, a couple of black holes and some kind of kitsch-looking rainbow-coloured space ship navigating its way through a field of glowing asteroids. Clearly there's a reason why I'm not designing album covers for disco pioneers.

Published in mX, Thursday November 6, 2008.