Miss Kittin: Batbox

By GLENN ASTARITA
April 12, 2008
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Based in Paris, DJ and electronica advocate Miss Kittin (Caroline Herve) pursues techno dance music, while vocalizing with an edge that might allude to a crafty seductress at work. This is an enjoyable feast for the ears, featuring deep-bass synths amid oscillating effects and multi-layered grooves. She carves out a program that offers the best in 1980s techno-pop via a modern aura. With massive rhythmic sequences and sweeping electronics, she designs a party album, occasionally shaded with ominous treatments.

On "Grace," Kittin sings, "I hear the bass in my face." And, of course, there's lots of bass, largely serving as the anchor during the preponderance of this studio set. Marked by pulsating rock beats, spooky synth choruses, handclaps and other components, she also constructs a turbo-mode club music mindset, although many of these works should appeal to ardent fans of Euro-electronica.

Ultimately, Miss Kittin looms as an able pop diva who transforms her art into catchy melodic hooks and chants. Moreover, she acutely morphs elements of angst with grandiose dreamscapes when not immersing her craft within booming and supercharged motifs. Otherwise, this is a sharp production and not merely an album that serves as background fodder for wild social gatherings. Sure enough, Miss Kittin's 2008 release is a multifaceted standout that beckons repeated listens.

Track Listing: Kittin Is High; Batbox; Grace; Solidsarockstar; Barefoot Tonight; Play Me A Tape; Pollution Of The Mind; Wash N Dry; Metalhead; Machine Joy; Sunset Strip; Playmate Of The Century; Mightmaker.

Personnel: Miss Kittin: all instrumentation.

Title: Batbox | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Nobody's Bizzness