There seem to be a lot of electronic retro 1980s new wave posturing bands at the moment. Rhythm King And Her Friends however embrace the ethics of the ‘80s but concentrate on the melodies rather then the imagery on their debut album I Am Disco.

Rhythm King aim to provide an urban commentary on work, life, culture and queer politics, with accompaniment from driving drum loops, energetic guitar riffs and vacant, distorted vocals. 

The band have an electronically bent sound that deviates from techno to hip hop to post punk and lyrics and vocals that assure comparisons to the female ‘no-wave’ bands of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as well as modern contemporaries Chicks On Speed, Le Tigre and Peaches. These comparisons are not misplaced either, with easy similarities to be heard between the bands. Like those angry bands before them, Rhythm King And Her Friends realise that music can have a message and be danced to, and it is possible to make danceable music that can be enjoyed on a deeper level.

The opening track Sister combines an addictive acoustic guitar strum, with disinterested vocals, drum machine and kooky melody. Setting the key for the mood of the album with its combination of post punk vocals, electronic beats and acoustic instrumentations. Shock uses analogue keyboards to bend and create a haunting sound that spirals towards chanting vocals.

Client Interne fully utilises electronic production, with programmed drums and percussion, but typical of the band’s live bass and guitar are added into the mix to give the song a natural, organic feel. At times some of their songs sound like bedroom productions, deliberately obviously, to create an underproduced sound that matches the ‘feel’ of their music better.

The vocals on I Am Disco have been described as a mixture of Euro-vogue, American drawl and London suburbia. Their origin may be American but their influences would most surely be European avante-garde. Each song stands out as unusual from the rest of the album. Coraloid, for example, is an instrumental track, much apart from the rest of the vocally dominated tracks. The track uses a great deal of sampling as well as the subtle use of melodic jazz to float over the hypnotic drum and bass. Coraloid flows seemlessly into Copie-moi je Veux Voyager, an angry, anthemic French electro-clash ditty featuring a filthy bassline which provides the direction to the track.

Yvonne uses crude, unprepared analogue squelch to dirty up their sound and give their album a refreshing under-produced feel, mocking the current trend towards highly produced tracks by other electro clash posers. As the album closes it gets even more crazy and eclectic. Pants is an interesting combination of clattering drum machine loops, rump shaking basslines and hooky guitar slides which form an interesting chunk of electro-funk.

I Am Disco could not be considered ground breaking. There have been plenty of other all girl bands with similar style who have gone before them, many of whom this band are compared rightly to. While the album adds little of real ingenuity to the bombardment of euro-clash over the last three years it is a good eclectic mix of tracks which are diverse enough not to make the album bland or plain to listen like many bands of this genre suffer from.

If you dig Chicks On Speed, Peaches and Le Tigre you really should check out Rhythm King And Her Friends for more of the same electro-punk grrl attitude.