Muscles is a curious character. I, for one, remember watching him rock out at Booby-trap at World Bar on a Friday night, just a little under a year ago. Back then, if you saw Chris (to those who know him) dancing awkwardly like an old 90s raver, clad in LED lights with only a laptop and a keyboard for support, you would have laughed at the notion of him being signed to Modular and playing festivals. But one year later, scenester kids are all wearing “Ice Cream Is Going To Save The Day” on their t-shirts and Muscles commands an audience of thousands at Parklife, as they all scream in unison DRIVE A ONE INCH BADGE PIN THROUGH MY HEAART!

It’s funny how things change. For me, Muscles is and always will be the techies’ muso. He operates on a series of loops and samples run (probably) on a program like Ableton live, which pretty much every act at Parklife was using, from Justice to Digitalism. This is what makes this CD so damn catchy – as each song is pretty much a collection of loops triggered off a MacBook (with the addition of his very unique sounding voice).

Now, not to detract from Muscles, the music is still great fun to listen to. And when it’s combined with his intentionally sugar-coated lolly-lyrics (“I wish that I could keep you in my pocket/So I could play with you all the time”) it’s pure bliss. Muscles did the right thing by expanding the soundscapes on his album instead of making twelve Ice Creams, something Modular probably wouldn’t have allowed anyway. The album reflects the true scope of his electro-kingpin ambition, and it’s breath-takingly driven by fresh pseudo-techno gems.