Most Americans must surely now be aware that ‘Fanny’ in Britain is to girls what ‘Todger’ is to boys, and so it’s perhaps doubly ironic that Fanny Pack have entered our lives with the wedge-shaped innuendo of ‘Cameltoe’ as their anthem. Ironic or intentional? Who knows? Who cares? Let’s tell it like it is. We’re all adults here; we’re talking pussies right? V-shaped for victory or heart-shaped for horny. We are not and never were talking about the wraparound devices worn by tourists. It was pussies all along. Pussies pure and simple. Pussies, pussies, pussies…
And now we’ve got all that off our chests (ooh err!) we can get down to the nitty gritty (doh!). You see in a world of innuendo, meaning is like elastic; you can pretty much stretch it into whatever you want it to be. It’s not always amusing – but it always gets you noticed. And this little truism was obviously none more better realised than by shrewd New York DJs Matt Goias and Fancy who have teamed up with three fun and feisty booty girls from Brooklyn. And just to confirm that these really are three ordinary ‘goylz’ from Brooklyn the press release reads like some graduation day roll call (already):
“17 year old Jessibel – half Puerto Rican and Half Thai works really hard at school and hopes one day to be a psychologist“.
“Belinda is a 16 year old, born and bred Brooklyn girl“
“Cat is a 21-year-old Brooklyn resident of Irish descent who has just recently graduated from Boston University“.
So which does it smell more like? Teen Spirit or a rat?
Timed miraculously well for the release of the new Charlie’s Angels movie, ‘So Stylistic’ covers just about every eventuality: the smart and the sassy, the dumb and the delicious and the smookily, cookily oriental ‘otherness’. Cynical? No. If it’s good enough for the box-office then it’s good enough for the airwaves.
But enough of the cheap shots.
A throwback to when hip-hop was fun and had to goof itself up in candy-coloured cookiness to push its way past the censors, ‘So Sylistic’ is a giggly and pink booty-bag of wiggly electronica and comic-strip hip-hop: vulgar yet inoffensive, menstrual but often magical.
‘Cameltoe’ combines the sweaty scratch and grind of Salt and Pepa’s Push It with the horny, nasal literalness of Missy Elliot’s Work It whilst ‘Things’ sounds like Ladytron doing Josey and The Pussycats.
If you’re looking for something funky, check out the fruity punchline of the bass on
‘Sugar Daddy’. Here for the itchy and the scratchy techno? Try razor-sharp title track, ‘So Stylistic’.
As clever as it is cute, as serious as it is sexy and as eclectic as it is elastic, ‘So Stylistic’ is a multi-level kinda thing and a cool, cool party record.