That the irreverent trans-stylist Jarvis Cocker and the delightfully bonkers Fat Truckers have yet to concede defeat with their loose and eccentric DJ collective, the Desperate Sound System perhaps shows the sheer tenacity of character these daft Sheffield folk have in pursuing the fantastic and the bizarre in the most brutal of everyday places. Pulp charted this territory better than anyone with their priceless and eerie narratives on psychotic suburbia, but it’s apparent also in the volatile, monster-pop of Baby Bird and Stephen Jones and in the preposterous electro clubwhack of Cabaret Voltaire and the Human League. Whether it’s a silly falsetto vocal, or some echoey, gated dreamsound – it’s a landscape populated with only the most absurd and unbalanced of juxtapositions: panthers and Tony Christie, clubland and cooling towers, Metaphysics and Meadowhall. And this is where Grandadbob come in.
Produced, written and performed by Sheffield’s Dave Johnson and Venessa Robinson. ‘Waltzes For Weirdos’ – out now on Norman Cook’s really very tasty Southern Fried label – takes up where much of Moloko’s ‘Things To Make and Do’ left off. Funky, eclectic and shrink wrapped in lofty, goofy madness, Grandadbob have been perfecting their brand of ‘mad as your aunty’ dance tunes, and funkadelic acid house ever since the release of the dreamy ‘City Approaches’ and the squidgey bloom and hum of phaser single ‘Mmmnn’. And what better way to comfirm this practice than by opening the album with the frighteningly baroque and the frighteningly good ‘Monster’ – where Sheffield’s barely concealed vein of lunacy again erupts to the surface. Voyeurism, fairground-violence and sex games – it’s all in there – but this time it’s backed up by some razor sharp buzzes and beats. True to form, the disturbed, explosive grammar of the opener is relieved by the appearance of broad, Yorkshire daylight. Grandadbob himself (Dave’s real grandad, Mr Robert Porter) makes a well-timed introduction and the mood shifts nicely from loony to languid.
There’s no doubting the Daft Punk and Moloko influences, but there’s equal measures of Portishead (‘Open Mouthed’, ‘Killed By Sweets’) Goldfrapp (‘Maybe’) and Lemon Jelly/Add N To X in there too (the excellent ‘Kenny’). But these are just pointers, simple references. ‘Waltzes For Weirdos’ is a definite must have if crossover music is where you’re at. And if you’re on the look out for some classic, old skool acid-house – you’re not going to be disappointed either.
I don’t know why you needed any of this though, the album title says it all really.