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And you can soon tell listening to the CD why MofoHifi wanted to keep a close eye on Phonat (aka Michele Balduzzi) as it starts off like an electro/synth-pop tribute to Prince but before long, you discover that this guy has no respect for traditional genre boundaries or any rule books about how to make a debut album; in other words, this is the type of album we love at FLY.

So whilst his story of signing for MofoHifi might sound like a modern day Albert “Why I gave it up for music and the free electric band…” Hammond, the previous single ‘Learn To Recycle’ is a huge mash up of 80s synth mash weirdness and ‘Love Hits The Fan’ is old skool cut up pop! - this is the type of oddness that gets the attention of remix whores everywhere.

I admit, some of these tracks demand ‘big hair’ from performance and audience and at the other extreme, this guy has been described as “Daft Punk on happy pills”. Ttop marks for that one Data Transmission but even then, it still doesn’t convey how complex/fun this album is as its bits of house, breaks, electro, hip-hop, synth-pop, 80s rock, Prince-funk and more.

‘Ghetto burnin’ features the immediately identifiable Yolanda which is a big tune highlight akin to all her other breaks friendly appearance including the recent Deekline & Wizard album, Back Up, Coming Through.

‘Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde’ is another one to look out for ‘Bad Boy’ is proof of what a bad boy he really is and if you’re still not sure, ‘London’ will convince you.

Phonat might not be an immediate winner but Phonat has already gained some tastemaker friends in Rob da Bank and Norman Cook (to name just two) so I strongly suspect this won’t be the last time we’ll be hearing from him this year.

Reviewed: Phonat - Phonat (MofoHifi) Cat. No: NFHCDA002 Release date: 21st September 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Warm Welcome (3:05)
2 Get Down My Dirty Street (3:34)
3 Set Me Free (5:01)
4 Ghetto Burnin’ (4:40)
5 Love Hits The Fan (4:25)
6 Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde (5:45)
7 It’s For You (4:17)
8 Learn To Recycle (5:40)
9 The Big Deal (5:02)
10 Zombie Army (3:45)
11 Bad Boy (3:57)
12 London (3:18)

Links:
www.phonat.net
www.myspace.com/phonat