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Simian Mobile Disco’s astounding track record as a remix powerhouse is due in no small part to the group’s mastery of mood, and Temporary Pleasure benefits greatly from this.
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Underpinning all these is a formidable talent for beats and synths most audible on glacial instrumental '10,000 Horses Can't Be Wrong.' It's this that makes Temporary Pleasure so strong and tightly knit and it's the reason it has enough minor-key disco stomps to keep us dancing all through autumn.
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Dance duo up their game on multi-packed, multi-contributor return.
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James Shaw and James Ford are still enforcing limitations on their sound, and while they may be smoothing out a few of the rough patches that would make a more interesting record, their sophomore follow-up is a worthy heir to the original.
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The songs are better, the guest performers more exciting and enthused, and the production varied enough to highlight the differences between each track (which wasn’t always the case on the previous album).
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Efforts here lack urgency and a necessity to blow the doors off the club apparent on previous releases.
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The result of using these familiar names is that Simian Mobile Disco lose something of the edge that gave "Attack Decay Sustain Release" such a heavy clout as a sharp piece of electro.
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Temporary Pleasure is a glitterball of an album, shining just right when the light hits and falling where it doesn’t, but like any party, it’ll get you moving if you’re in the mood.
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A couple tracks may become short-lived flings, but for the most part, the pleasure to be had from Temporary Pleasure will not be short-lived.
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Regardless of which indie celeb is on the mic or which recreational drug best suits the beat, each track hints at hedonism without hangovers.
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It’s trashy yet too self-conscious for its own good, it’s lovingly crafted yet ultimately hollow, it’s dance music which veers from so catchy you can’t help yourself to chin-stroking music to nod at and appreciate.
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It becomes clear that for a distressingly large chunk of Temporary Pleasures, the duo has forgotten to do much of interest with the backing tracks in favor of roping in a rolodex's worth of singers and rappers and hoping the songs write themselves.
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Although Temporary Pleasure is not quite the mirage that is virtual reality, it is certainly fleeting and a perfect addition for those looking to update their summer soundtrack playlist for 2009 (or 2007).
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The album has a more sculpted feel--proper songs, but with a subtle disco undercurrent. However, things tail off a bit with the wishy-washy Bad Blood and Turn Up the Dial's hip-hopera, leaving Audacity of Huge--a consumerist dream-turned-nightmare with a massive groove--heading the charge towards the mainstream.
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MojoOverall it's pleasurable, audacious even, but hardly world changing. [Sep 2009, p.102]
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UncutTheir choice of guest vocalists this time around indicates good tatse, although in practice there's not much call for subtlety in these chewy, club-oriented productions. [Sep 2009, p.95]
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Under The RadarToo often, though the album drags beneath the weight of guest appearances and loses sight of the sonic arrangements below. [Fall 2009, p.74]
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That it isn’t resoundingly terrible (as background music it’s passable, as long as you can’t actually hear it properly) is due to its general beigeness rather than the sparse flashes that illuminate it.