Sound: Shiny Toy Guns, who became a part of the movement that made dancehall-tinged glam rock en vogue in 2006 with the quartet’s debut album We Are Pilots, set the stage for club music to thrive with the likes of Kevin Rudolf, Cobra Starship, and Lady Gaga soon to follow. STG’s latest release, Girls Le Disko from Ultra Records is a collection of the group’s perennial favorites like “You Are The One” and “Ghost Town” alongside new tracks like “Rocketship” and their re-tooled version of Peter Schilling’s 1980 hit song “Major Tom (Coming Home)” featuring Sisely Treasure on lead vocals, who replaces Carah Faye from the band’s two past recordings, We Are Pilots and Season Of Poison. Additionally comprised of keyboardist/bassist Jeremy Dawson, vocalist/guitarist Chad Petree, and drummer Mike Martin, Shiny Toy Guns revive prog-rock’s club music edge with new remixes of their tracks tailored by a cast of contemporary DJ’s/producers including Herve, Ferry Corsten, Kissy Sell Out, Boys Noize, Bimbo Jones, and Adam Freeland. Girls Le Disko is a collaborative effort that proves having too many cooks in the kitchen won’t spoil a meal when the main ingredients are kept in tact.
Shiny Toy Guns created infallible tracks that no matter which way their producers bent them, shaped them and tweaked them, the music sounds phenomenal. Kissy Sell Out’s tweaks and manipulations on “Ricochet” give the track a space odyssey feel that segues nicely into the dance-crazed impulses and jostling beats of “Ghost Town” fine-tuned by Evol Intent. The dreamy synth-pumiced swells and sweeping cascades moving across “Don’t Cry Out” have a chic finish with glam-inspired tingles fashioned by The Teenagers, which transform into a sleek disco quaking with Ferry Corsten’s touch-ups on “Le Disko.” The electro-tinted crustaceans that barnicle tracks like “Rainy Monday” and “You Are The One” enhance the original versions with digitalized raptures that heighten the sonic experience, while the military cadence put on “Ricochet” by Nadastrom make the track seem completely new, and the disco fringed electronica of Hi-Deaf on “Ghost Town” modulate the high levels of octane to a power rock magnitude. The album has everything that fans like about Shiny Toy Guns and more. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics ignite the impulse to live in a fantasy world like in “Le Disko” with verses that tease, “Hello little boys, little toys / We’re the dreams you’re believing / Crawling up the walls / Running down your face… Now hold onto me pretty baby / If you want to fly / I’m gonna melt the fever, Sugar / Rolling back your eyes / We’re gonna ride the race cars / We’re gonna dance on fire / We’re the girls, Le Disko / Supersonic overdrive.” The main lyrical theme is to provide escapism for audiences like in “Ghost Town” with words that describe, “Everyone living in Ghost Town / Everyone buried in wasteland / We don’t want to / We don’t have to be like that / Living in Ghost Town.” The appeal of their lyrics is to provide an alternate world to live in, to find pleasure in the dream-state and believe that it can be one’s reality. // 8
Impression: The DJ’s/producers gutted out, re-laced, and applied studs of glittery trimmings to Shiny Toy Guns tracks making them more chic and club-ready enhancing the infectious dance-anthem of “Le Disko” and the striking trip-hop dynamics of “Ghost Town.” The band’s electro-pop laden webbing and digital props create space rock jaunts tethered to disco-clad grooves. Girls Le Disko contains all of Shiny Toy Guns best ingredients immersed in intoxicating rhythmic patterns that manifest into an extravaganza of sonic domes which give the tracks more shine and spark for fans pleasure. // 8
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